


Alice **INDEFINITE HIATUS**

by blujeza



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alice & Garrett Bromance, Alice Does What She Wants, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Because I can, Eventual Alice/Jasper, F/M, Identity Issues, If You Squint - Freeform, Immoral Character, Massively AU, Screwing with the Timeline, Self-Insert, Slow Build, Some angst, Volturi Trolling, because she really is Alice, but not really, i really like these tags, no really so slow, or maybe thats Amoral, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 17:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5342018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blujeza/pseuds/blujeza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In all my life, I never wondered who I was. It wasn't until I was no longer myself that I started to question everything and nothing. My name is Alice, but who am I really?</p><p>or</p><p>Some poor idiot gets tossed into Alice's newborn vamp body and drags Garrett along for the ride trolling the Volturi and the rest of the world for the next couple of decades. And maybe Jasper too.<br/>EDIT 2: Sorry folks, I'm not sure when I'll get back to writing this. Twilight has not been my interest in years and my life has gotten infinitely more complicated and busy within the past year. If you want to take this over, just pm me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I posted first on FF.NET but I literally JUST got an AO3 account so... Anyways, I'm trying to figure this weird posting stuff out. I went a little wacko with the tags, but I like tags. Just sayin'. Hello again to those joining me from ff.net and for those that are new.... So sorry for this. Hang on to your pants, cause this fic is going all over the place nowhere fast. And, uh, don't read it if you are looking for something completely serious or something attempting humor. I'm not funny. 
> 
> Also, Warning: If you want a fic that's believable, first why the hell are you reading fan fiction? Two, this is not it. A lot of things in here are just.... screwy. Hence, Massively AU. So, no whining. There, I said it first.
> 
> Enjoy. Updates are Weekly or bimonthly. Depends on my schedule. You'll probably see chapters up on ff.net first, simply cause that's just the first place I go so, yea. 
> 
> See my tumblr for teasers and/or pics to go along with this.

_He was roaring, venom dripping from his mouth, black eyes wild with anger and impatience. The sky was black and endless, the stars twinkling very faintly in the presence of smoke, fire, and purple fumes. All around him lay scattered body parts, torsos and limbs spread to the far reaches of the tiny, dusty wooden town. He was **angry**._

_She held him by the jaw with two hands, his scarred features were set in a look of utter loathing and obedience, somehow portraying how much he absolutely hated her at the same time he blindly followed her. She grinned with bright, flawless teeth set upon a pretty dark toned face, her black curls twisted up into a messy bun. She had her Major and she was **happy**._

_Ripping, tearing, pulling the ferocious monsters apart while he stalked like a hungry panther through the masses. His head was held high, the dirty blonde curls almost stationary in the faint, smoke coated breeze. Snapping teeth came centimeters within touching distance of his dirty shirtsleeve, even as his hands moved fast to dislocate a slobbering jaw. He was **determined**._

_Long dark hair tumbled over her shoulder, her breasts heaving with the motion of his mechanical thrusts, she moaned in rapture as her hands tore into his shoulder and back. He didn't flinch, instead leaning down to place his mouth at her neck only to have his head jerked back by two small, feminine hands. She snarled into his face, all motion stopping because he had **gotten too close**._

_He was tall._

_He had golden curls._

_His eyes are red._

_He is angry. So **angry**._

_She is his mistress._

_He hates, intensely._

_She cackles, happy with her lot in life._

_He is breaking._

_His name…. Her name…. They're named…._

_She calls him Major._

_He calls her Mistress._

_His name is Jasper. **Jasper Whitlock**._

The fire stopped, the flames that had been licking at me for the past 48 hours quickly dying away and leaving me with a sense of loss that I couldn't comprehend. I remember… I remember… dying in a crash. Had the car exploded? Did I get caught in the flames? What happened to me? Something is _different_.

I breathed in. If my heart could stutter in fear, it would have, as I tasted everything. The air was alight with all sorts of unidentifiable things as I suddenly smacked my lips, my tongue coming out to taste the air again; I didn't taste anything this time. My brow furrowed in confusion, my eyes still tightly shut. I was almost afraid to open them. I breathed in again, holding it in my chest as I analyzed the taste of mist and dirt. I was in a forest. I could tell right away, despite having never _tasted_ a forest before.

I twisted my head to the side very slightly, letting it rest upon the damp earth and hearing the faults shifting within it. How very strange this all was, and how was this happening in the first place? I tilted my face upwards again and decided to brave the unknown with my eyes, wanting to _know_ where I was and why I was here. My eyes peeled open and I stared.

Amazement filled me as I watched the tiny dust motes pass in front of my eyes, the air currents flowing past me, and the veins in the tree leaves high above me. My eyes frantically searched the trees, the leaves, the bark, and landed on a few bugs crawling upon the trunks. I didn't understand how I was seeing all of this much less processing it in such a rate that I understood it. My mouth dropped open seemingly of my own accord as I sat up. It was so fast, one second I was lying down and the next I was sitting upright and gazing around with my head twisting this way and that.

I couldn't comprehend all of this. I almost didn't want to. My head tilted slightly as I twisted my neck around behind me, staring off into the forest at the sudden sounds of hooves upon the dirt. I licked my lips, nervous and anxious for absolutely no reason except I was suddenly so _thirsty_. What was that noise!?

_Th-thump. Thump. Th-thump. Thump._

I cocked my head to the side, was that… a _heartbeat_?

_Whoooosh. Lub-dub. Whooosh. Lub-dub. Whooosh._

It was definitely a heartbeat. I closed me eyes at the sudden feeling of want and longing rising up in me. Holding my breath for good measure, I carefully stood up and went still. I needed… I needed to think. How could I even think with all this noise and distraction? Quiet…. Stillness… I needed those things. I needed….

_Th-thump. Thump. Th-thump. Thump._

I needed blood.

I turned, eyes opening, even as I lost myself to the need and bloodlust and launched myself into the trees. It was like the world stood still as I ran, and before I knew it my teeth were buried into the neck of a young man in hunting gear. His companion yelled in fear and shock and I heard a gun go off. Something tickled my side, and I felt the fluttering of cloth material against my pale skin.

I bit harder, swallowing in ecstasy at the gush of warmth and chocolate running down my throat. So _thirsty_. I didn't care that his companion had turned tail and started running, I was too lost in the taste and enjoyment of my current prey. I dropped him, tilting my head back as I hummed in delight. My eyes closed very briefly as I licked the drops off of my lip and chin.

Snapping my head to the left at the sudden sound of another heart, the rushing of blood, and the smell of a fresh wound, I spotted the fleeing human. It had cut itself on a branch, I could spot the torn cloth of it's jacket from here. In a flash, I had it in my hands, studying it's closed eyes and whimpering form with fascination. It was taller than me by quite a lot, but it didn't matter as I bent its head back, accidently snapping its vertebrae as I did.

My mouth closed in around its neck, teeth slicing easily through the skin, and blood gushing up and into my mouth. I moaned. It just tasted so good. It was as if I was drinking in life, and maybe I was, considering just what it was I was drinking down as if I were stuck in the desert. Dropping the corpse to the ground, I swallowed the last of the blood and took a step back.

That's when I froze.

I'd just murdered two innocent people and drank their blood.

I just moved too fast to be human. I just drank blood.

' _And I liked it!_ ' I thought hysterically. I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate, my chest heaving in an effort to draw in enough air that, apparently, _I didn't even need!_

"Oh my god." I muttered, panicked. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygod…"

I trailed off, my thoughts running on a loop of ' _I'm a vampire. I just killed people. I drank blood. Oh my god. I'm a vampire. I just drank blood. Oh my g-god!_ '

I made the mistake of looking down at that moment and saw the bloodied corpse of the human man staring up at me, his empty eyes forever frozen in a look of fear and horror. I gagged, launching myself backward and sending the tree behind me to the ground. Shivering, I turned and raced away, too panicked and terrified to even consider covering up my trail.

I didn't stop until I came upon a pond of some sort. It wasn't very big, nor very clean, but it would certainly work for what I suddenly wanted. I needed to see myself. I needed to prove to myself that it wasn't true. _It's just a dream!_ At that thought, I stopped at the edge and toed the muddy water before taking a careful step forward. Bending, I glanced down right into a pair of hazy red eyes.

I stared. This is impossible. I couldn't think past that. _People don't just die and wake up as other people! Especially vampire people!_ I thought, half hysterical and half disbelieving. On the other hand, the proof was right here, literally, right in front of my face. As I continued to stare into the face in the water, the face that had red eyes, messy and short black hair, and pixie like frame, all I could think was that of course this would happen to me. Of course it made sense that I was _Alice freakin' Cullen_.

Carefully, I stepped away from the water and rather ungracefully sat myself down on the ground. _Because this makes all the sense in the world…_ I mused to myself. _She must not have made it through the change…so instead this body got me. Ugh, what am I thinking, of course not. This isn't possible!_

My thoughts were in a whirlwind. It wasn't that I didn't understand what had happened or even what was happening, more that I just didn't want to. Unfortunately, it seems as if dying in another world means sending your soul to a completely, previously, fictional one. Did this mean I had been reborn somehow? Did it mean I just simply shoved Alice from her body and hijacked it instead? I didn't know, and really, I didn't want to.

More than that, however, was the sudden and jarring thought of how I was so lucid at this moment. I'd read the Twilight novels, and the only newborn to have ever had complete control of themselves was Bella Swan. It's a bit too soon for Bella Swan, and I am certainly not she. _No, apparently I'm Alice Cullen._ I thought sarcastically. It was a truly disturbing thought.

Grimacing, I glanced at the pond again. I certainly didn't want to take a second look at myself, but…. My eyes shot down to my tattered clothing of an asylum detainee. I would need to clean myself up. Beyond that, I knew I'd need to brave a town or something for some clothes because I was not wearing this scrap for much longer if I could help it.

I picked at the bloody sleeve of my uniform, the material tearing and grinding to thread beneath my fingertips. Scowling, I huffed and stopped messing with my clothes. Apparently I would have to practice before even thinking of changing. Irritated at myself and at the world at large, I threw myself backwards onto the ground with my arms out on either side of me and closed my eyes.

I desperately needed to take a moment to just think. Blowing out a breath of frustrated air, I turned inwards to my thoughts and tried to put it all in perspective. A vampire's brain, it turns out, is amazing at this sort of intense self-introspection. In the next few minutes, my thought process reviewed my waking, the transformation, the self-doubt and fear of my new situation, my death, and even the visions I'd apparently already had but been ignoring this whole time. It was as if everything was layered on top of each other, but in such a way that it was easy to skip from thought to thought without being overwhelmed. Honestly, it kind of reminded me of the Mind Palace. Ha! Sherlock Holmes.

It couldn't have been more than ten minutes when I opened my eyes and stared around at the world with new eyes. So I'd died. I had died and I'd been reborn as Mary Alice Brandon. I was now in Twilight – the worst example of a tweenie boppers love story ever – and was one of the leading characters, sort of. I had visions, though how they worked I have no clue; still, it would be interesting to figure that out and to see just how far I could train this ability. Would being different from the original Alice effect my new gift in any way? Would the visions still be subjective based on decisions or could they be something _more_?

I couldn't deny that I suddenly became curious and excited about this new life just for those reasons alone. I am certain that while burning I had witnessed Jasper in Maria's newborn army. Did this mean that Jasper would still be my mate? Was it entirely possible that it meant something completely different? Maybe, I was just supposed to help him? I didn't know. Not knowing was… not actually a relief. It made me nervous. Mostly because I knew that not knowing something would cause me to become dependent on this _crystal ball_ gift and that's _dangerous_.

I shivered from the very thought and stood to my feet. Rubbing my arms with my hands, despite not needing the warmth of it or the circulation, I glanced around the area I found myself in with a worried frown. First thing's first, looking down at my bloodied and torn clothing with a grimace of disgust.

"Clothes." I muttered, distractedly.


	2. Slice of Life

I peered around the corner of the tiny brick café, careful to keep the hood of my cloak-jacket-thing over my head. Seriously, 1920's fashion is so weird you have no idea. There were three men walking towards me, each one decked out in the old fashioned clothes of a construction worker in the 1920's and looking tired to the bone. The one I was interested in was the one on the far left, closest to the street, which looked as if his face had been bashed in once upon a time. He was far from attractive, but then again I wasn't looking for someone attractive so he suited my purposes just fine.

His companions were laughing uproariously at something he had said and he himself had a nasty grin on his face that all but screamed that he knew something no one else did. He probably did, considering why I chose him in the first place. He made the perfect meal and after quickly browsing my options I knew he wouldn't exactly be missed upon his disappearance from society, in fact, there were a couple of women that would be immensely relieved to find him dead and gone.

It's been 9 months since I woke up in this life and I'd all but accepted it now. I can't even say that I remember my previous name, not that it would matter if I did since I'd never be able to use it again. I've truly settled in and become Mary Alice Brandon of Biloxi, Mississippi, the vampire. In the past couple of months, while struggling with my bloodlust and ADD vampire brain, I've come to accept the fact that I'm a sparkling creature living off blood and seeing the future. Secretly, I kind of think it is freaking amazing. Alas, human life just wasn't for me.

My attention snapped back to the group of men wandering up the sidewalk in my direction and I quickly pulled back into the alleyway. Smoothing down my wool coat and quickly shedding the gloves that had been warming my freezing cold skin, I tossed them to the side and straightened up. Tilting my head slightly, I fixed my pixie cut hair into a modicum of tidiness and strode forward in just the right moment to pitch myself into my target.

I cried out, gripping onto the lapels of his work jacket and pretending to stumble over my feet right into him. His hands rose up to catch me at the elbows as he leaned backwards, his own face tilting down towards me. He grinned, quick and fierce with all his teeth on show. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he thought it was his lucky day. His friends paused too, exchanging amused looks with each other before giving him a farewell and walking on.

"Hello Miss. Are you alright there?" He was polite, at the very least.

I gave him a shy smile and released him, backing away towards the alley quickly.

"I am so sorry. I did not mean to run into you, it's just… Oh… I'm in such a hurry, you see…" I trailed off, blatant worry and fear in my tone as I looked around the nearly empty street. He stepped forward with raised hands, palms showing and a false look of concern apparent on his ugly features.

"It's alright. Do you need an escort? Help, perhaps?" He offered his hand to me then, "Please, allow me to help."

I worried my bottom lip before sighing and nodding with tearful eyes. "Oh, thank you so much Sir. I'm afraid I… well…" I stuttered slightly, placing my slightly warmed hand in his and taking one more look around the street, now empty of witnesses.

A brief smile, a tug on his hand, and suddenly we were in the alley and he was against the wall with my petite fingers covering his mouth. I bared my teeth at him, "I'm really hungry." I could see the fear and panic in his eyes, shining out at me like a beacon calling for temperance. I flashed forward and buried my teeth in his collarbone. He struggled, oh did he struggle, and I briefly felt a moment of undeniable guilt until I remembered what it was he was going to do this evening. I bit down harder then, because I didn't feel guilty at all, since any man who was willing to rape and murder his own wife and daughter deserved worse than hell in my mind.

It was over quickly, the blood from his cooling corpse having run dry and the struggle for life having left only moments into my feeding. I stepped back and allowed the corpse to drop, staring down at it as if it had all the answers in the world. Really, it's a wonder I was ever human at all with the way things are going. It happens still, when I will think back to the Alice of Before and wonder how she could possibly abstain from this. I was human once, hell I was human from another world once, but now that I'm here and I'm a vampire... It's like I was blind, deaf, and lacking all sense before.

Instinct guides me, but it's my higher brain process that realized rather quickly after only a few days of feeding on deer that I could never live that way. I needed blood to survive. Yes, the golden eyes are a pretty awesome perk, but the fact of the matter is... I really do enjoy taste far too much to keep trying. I'll admit it, I was a bit of a foodie in my previous life. I guess it carried over.

Glancing quickly out of the alleyway, I bent down and heaved the corpse up and over my shoulder. It was almost comical how much larger the man was compared to myself, which meant that the sight of me carrying him draped over my shoulder was kind of hilarious. You know,if you don't take the fact that he was dead and I'd killed him into account. But, details.

It was a quick hop and a jump up onto the roof and two building overs where I found my hiding place. I dumped the corpse into the dumpster, leaning down to quickly rip into his neck with my fingers so my bite marks wouldn't be recognizable, then stepped back and tossed a lit match. Better safe than sorry, after all. Watching the dumpster go up in flame was actually kind of beautiful in a morbid sort of way. I tilted my head slightly, peering at the red licking the air and feeling the heat coat my face. Yes, kind of beautiful.

Humming thoughtfully, I peered up into the dark, cloudy sky and wondered if I should head towards Pittsburgh yet. Nah, probably not. As far as I know, that was still a long way off. Not that I was counting down the days or anything, to be honest I was having a lot of fund just wandering the states and seeing what the 1920's are like. So far... boring except for the clubs. What can I say, the Roaring 20's are certainly roaring in the clubs.

With an exuberant pirouette, I made my way to the sidewalk and casually turned left down the street then crossed the stone to the other side. I had just reached the opposite side of the street and was moving right when a scream rent the air. A casual glance over told me that yes, the woman had found the flaming dumpster and that no, the police were still unaccounted for. Just in time. Sometimes, I did love actually being able to see the future. Although that definitely did not make up for the rest of the time because let me tell you... seeing everything before it happens is actually really freaking annoying.

Another glance around to make sure the coast was clear and then I took off into a run, blurring past cars and people and not pausing at all except to briefly steal one ladies hat because it was actually really beautiful, and so sue me maybe I got a little bit of the Alice of Before's personality too! I made it out of the city in no time and immediately slowed to a casual walk, my tiny form moving much like someone dancing on clouds. If you can even imagine someone dancing on clouds because I certainly couldn't... unless it's a vampire with the ability to fly. Ooooh, I wonder if there is one? I pondered this thought as I all but dance through the trees, reaching out to brush my fingers against tree bark and to bat away stray limbs.

It was going to rain today. In only few minutes the clouds will open up and dump a massive amount of water on us, which was all but making me quiver in excitement because if there is one thing I absolutely love, it's the rain. Bouncing on my toes, I throw my arms out to the side and twirl in circles just as the sky rumbles and the first droplet pings against the pale skin of my face. I can't help but laugh.

I may have awoken as this... thing in Alice form but I can't say that I don't enjoy my life now. It's a little lonely, a little confusing, and a lot scary but it's mine. I still, so suddenly that its almost dizzying. Closing my eyes tight, I breathe in and lower my arms until I'm hugging myself.

_  
"You let them go."_

_He stood tall, straight and with his hands clasped tightly together behind his lower back. His demeanor screamed firm and unyielding, yet as he stood he kept his head bowed and his eyes on the ground at her feet. She was standing before him dressed in a white dress, offsetting her dark skin and red red red red eyes. He knew she was angry despite her cool, seductive tone and the way she was angling her body towards him. He could feel it. It rose off her as steam rose from a spring._

_"Apologies, Mistress."_

_She paused only a few feet from him. He tensed, awaiting the moment it came as he felt the anger rise like a roaring beast. It did come. She lashed out in fury, hissing and spitting like a wildcat as she tore into him. His back bowed, he did not fight back even as she tore his arm from its socket and tossed it at his feet. The pain licked at him, flames upon his skin, agony upon his shoulder. He was kneeling._

_"Do not do it again Major! We have come too far! Must you disappoint me again and again?! That Peter ruined you!"_

_She was screaming. She was so angry. He kept silent, lips pressed firm. He would never speak out against Peter nor Charlotte. He would accept this eternal punishment for the many sins he has committed. One day however, she would too. This was **his** eternal promise.  
_

Blinking open my eyes, I stared at the trees before me then promptly cussed them out. The next few minutes were spent with me jumping up and down and spewing insults that would make a sailor blush. I couldn't help it. Damn Maria to the fiery pits of dragon dung.

Months of this new life had accustomed me to the unexplainable and, frankly, shocking reveals that come with being a vampire. I am still firmly on the side of "This Shouldn't Be Happening." In my mind, I'm not Alice despite being in her body because it just did not make sense. Nonetheless, the visions that came with it are irritating, annoying, and downright piss me off most of the time because they are _all about **him**._

Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration in the long run, but it certainly feels like the only future I see is Jasper this and Jasper that. More to the point, it's Jasper and Maria this and Maria ripping off body parts that. Ugh, so frustrating. If there is one certainty I can carry into this life, one thing that I absolutely loathe above all, then it is Maria. In the beginning, the first couple of months after I woke, wariness and fear kept me from making a decision about Jasper and myself.

The Alice of Before had been his mate but what, exactly, did that make me? Was I supposed to follow a script? Meet him in a Philadelphia diner like she had? It was, ultimately, my decision and why am I here if not to "mess shit up"? So yes, maybe I actually kind of _liked_ the jerk because if there is one thing Jasper is, then it's a jerk. A big fat, douchy jerk; minus the fat because let me tell you, the man is ripped. Hmm, must be from the Civil War because it's not like vampire's can gain muscle.

Shaking my head to rid me of my sidetracked thoughts, I turn on my heel and take off at a run into the forest towards the river. I slide to a halt and stand there for a moment or two, just staring at the trees in front of me with a concentrated frown on my face. Brows furrowed further as I ponder on life's greatest mystery; ie: What To Do About Jasper And Maria. Pouting, I gracefully slide to the ground by the riverbed with my feet tucked under me. Placing my hands on my upper thighs, I tilt my head down towards the water and stare at my red eyed reflection.

It was still a little jarring seeing a stranger's face stare back at me, not that I even remember _my own_ face much less my own name. But are they really mine anymore? Maybe the fact that I've body hopped and been placed here means I really am Alice? What if I had just had tons of visions that I've imagined are books? Ugh, no, that's impossible. Wrinkling my nose at the very thought, I take a deep and unneeded breath then let it out slowly and relaxed my shoulders.

I needed to make a decision, one that would affect my future indefinitely. The visions about Jasper and Maria were going to take their toll, mainly because I hated feeling so angry and helpless. How the Alice of Before did it for years is a mystery I will never understand because I can barely handle 9 months of this. So, this meant that I would need to focus and make my visions happen, in Alice terms, I'd need to search for the possibilities. I'd been practicing, of course, because sometimes you just get bored when you can't sleep and what better way to pass the time then to train a gift?

Biting my lower lip in thought, I tilted my chin downward and peered through my lashes at my fists clenched on my lap. I would start with Peter and Charlotte, maybe, through them….

_  
"Hi!" I chirped, cheerfully waving my fingers at an impassive face._

_"You expect us to believe that lil'bit?" He scoffed, baring his teeth in a bastardized version of a smile._

_Eyes wide, spin on a heel, run fast and run far, close close close…. Heat and pain and smoke… **Burn**.  
_

Breathing in through my nose in slight shock, I cough violently, my eyes popping open to stare at the water. "Well, that went well…" I murmur with wide eyes full of lingering fear. "Okay, so maybe not that way." I steeled myself, closed my eyes, and reached for the possibilities again.

_  
Cautious and wary approach, let them scent me first then stay still. One look and I give a small smile, making no move in either direction, an uncertain exchange of looks between mates and I'm suddenly shaking my head with exasperation and slight fear._

_I run.  
_

A growl of frustration escapes me as I reach up to grasp at my scalp, hissing through my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut tightly. I lower my hands from my hair and open my eyes to look upon the water again, concentrating on the way it flows and letting the movement carry my emotions from me. Peter and Charlotte are frustrating and obviously they won't trust me so maybe if I….

__  
It's fast. I don't feel it.  


Gasping, I choke on air as I scramble to stand up, my hand clasping at my chest over my heart. I had literally just seen my death, again, but it had happened so quickly I wasn't even sure what had happened. I bit my lip briefly before shaking my head. No, I couldn't do nothing; it just meant that I couldn't go through those channels. Jasper needed to be away from that life, most especially away from her before I ended up doing something stupid and getting myself killed.

"What good is seeing the future if you can't find the proper one?" I grumble to myself, turning in a slow circle and staring at the ground as if it would give me all the answers. Pausing, I crane my neck back and look up at the canopy of the forest, watching the little bugs crawl across leaves and tree limbs. I sighed and turned to sit again. I can't just give up.

_  
Laughter, good cheer, and bellows of joy thrummed through the midnight air appealing to the crowd that danced and spun in celebration. Firecrackers lit the street as young men and women ran circles around each other, as old men and wives held close and danced in the street with their foreheads pressed together. The year was officially 1926 and since the early evening the city had been awake and lively, showing the world just how welcome the new year really was._

_By the dim lighting of a street lamp stood one spectator that did not fit the rest, if simply by his clothing and design. He stood a head taller than the young men and women surrounding him, namely because of his perch upon the sidewalk as the others danced through the street. He wasn't here for the festivities, however. Tousled, dirty blonde hair adorned his head and framed his pale face, some strands falling in the way of his dark eyes that watched a nearby woman in appreciation. A little quirk of his lips showed his apparent satisfaction with her, even if it was not obvious he was staring, not at her body or looks, but at the thumping pulse of the artery in his long, swan like neck._

_Oh, certainly, she was a pretty young thing with short blond hair with eyes the color of the night sky set upon a symmetrical face but he had no need for her beauty when his own made hers pale in comparison. No, he was not there for the festivities at all. Instead, the hunger had greeted him after a rather harsh punishment back at camp so he was here, on the best of nights, to sate his thirst. On a night like this, it was not surprising that some young ladies, or even young men, would go missing and be found dead. Still, although he was watching his prey, he was for once unguarded against the eyes watching **him**._

_Across the street from him, backed against the brick of the building behind her, stood a petite figure that could be no more than 4'10" dressed in a pale ivory flapper dressed adorned in nude heels. She was leant rather casually against the building, her tiny hands pressed against her lower stomach and clenched in fists in an effort to stay her excitement. It was, however, an effort that went to waste, as it was rather obvious she was excited if the look on her face and tapping of her heels was any indication._

_Her black eyed gaze was set and focused across the way from her, peering through the laughing crowd and occasionally stealing glimpses of the tall blonde soldier. Maybe it was a little reckless of her, even bordering past dangerous, but it was something she couldn't help because this moment has been something she had been waiting **years** for. Something passed through her eyes then, a little grief or perhaps some reluctance, as she caught another glimpse of the predator across the way. It was through sheer willpower that she stayed her hand and waited a few brief moments after he disappeared._

_It took her only a few minutes to suddenly step off the sidewalk and into the crowd, weaving effortlessly through the sweaty, moving bodies of human stench. She all but danced her way onto the opposite sidewalk, pausing underneath the street lamp that he had been standing at just minutes ago. A deep breath in let loose a startlingly loud rumble of pleasure to escape from her, causing a look of utter surprise to appear on her features in an almost comical way. Shaking herself from the moment of respite, she twisted her way between two struggling men and one obnoxiously laughing women only to subtlety turn into an alleyway the next building over._

_She stopped and clasped her hands together behind her lower back, a small grin suddenly trying to peak through her serene and patient demeanor. Excitement was rising in her again, along with an eager longing she couldn't quite suppress. Before her, deep in the alley, was her tall and lean soldier with the human woman he had been eyeing backed against the alleyway. The woman, despite her beauty, had an abject look of horror and despair on her face that only briefly lit in hope at the new appearance to the alley. She couldn't help but take in how he leaned into his prey, how his teeth sunk deeper into her collarbone as the rivulets of red slipped past his eager lips, and how the rumble of a growl grew louder the longer she stood silent and waiting at the mouth of the alley. He was **beautiful**. She hadn't realized before, despite the visions she had of him, so of course it was slightly jarring._

_Had she really been this blind to his appeal? How had she not seen just how magnificent he was? He dropped the now dead human to the ground, straightening with purpose and slowly rolling his head in her direction with a dark, threatening gaze. She didn't make any movement, and instead met his black gaze with her own and **smiled**.  
_

Having a vision is like having a lucid, waking dream; very real and terrifying. Dreaming is something that I can barely remember but the feeling of helplessness when you realize you are just a long for the ride has never been more clear to me. I may not remember dreaming, but I definitely remember the feelings that come with it. As a human being, emotions are not so much less than what they are as a vampire, they are simply muddier; foggier. I've been able to recall in perfect clarity how I've felt when I was alive and still human and if I were to compare those emotions to what I was feeling now, I'd have to say that they have nothing the eagerness, longing, and fear that's currently welling up in me like a wave of a torrential tsunami waiting to break free. It's choking and suffocating but the only thing I can really do is hold on for the ride.

My visions may not be all that pleasant most of the time, and certainly they are in now way something that I can follow without question, but this vision means I still have to wait. In turn, that means I have to put up with another two years of constant flashes of Maria. I'll meet Jasper before Peter and Charlotte return for him, but I won't save him. No, apparently that's something I cannot change. Peter and Charlotte will be the ones to lead him to another life but I will be the one to introduce him to the possibilities. That's not scary at all, now is it? _Sarcasm and a gun, welcome to vampire life._ I thought, amused. _It's not like I have much choice anyways._ Because every other _possibility_ ended with my death, and thats not an option.

Still, I guess it means that I have time to prepare. I may not be able to save Jasper, but I can get to know him can't I? Perhaps in this way I can accept the fact that although I don't necessarily have to _follow_ the script, I can still play it. Twirling a short strand of hair around my fingers, I mused thoughtfully how much things have changed. I died, doing what I have no idea, but I died and then I woke up. Admittedly, waking up as someone else is never a good thing but I've learned to tweak it to my own needs at the very least. I have a very strong feeling that Alice died during her change and I'm the only soul around that was compatible enough with her body, so of course I took over. It's just like me too because I'm a stubborn bitch and being dead won't even stop me from living life.

Hopping to my feet, I reached up to rub at my burning throat and twist on my heels to head back to town. I just ate that guy, but one more couldn't hurt right? I am, after all, technically still a newborn and at this point I'm starving. I could feel the flare of heat run up my throat, the burn that came with the change and the beast inside me rearing to devour something delicious. My feet barely touched the ground I was moving so fast, weaving in and out of the trees and ducking under low hanging branches, holding my coat closed over my tiny form. I reached town in no time and immediately slowed to a casual, human walk. Entering town was no problem, but finding a meal would be a little more difficult. The man I'd eaten before had been a lucky shot in the dark, the fact that I'd seen him earlier in the day and promptly had a vision of him killing his wife and daughter that evening just made eating him more enjoyable.

I'm certainly no saint, and as I saunter down the sidewalk passing humans here and there, I know that enjoying killing and drinking blood shouldn't be something that gets me excited. I feel like I should feel guilty, but let's be honest, I'd never been very good at keeping myself from indulging and I'm no Alice. Well, technically anyways. Honestly, i guess I should get used to calling myself Alice because everyone else is going to and if I don't name myself Alice then what would I go by? Ugh, these thoughts... it all came back to the same thing.

Humming a jaunty little tune under my breath, I turn into the smoky club door to my left and take one more look up at the twilight sky before ducking into the entrance. It was immediate and without any warning, causing my breath to catch and my eyes to glaze over earning a concerned glance from the doorman. I reached out to grasp onto the doorframe, wavering on my feet as the images flashed across my eyes and burning into my brain. Seconds passed, an eternity for me, and I was released from the grasp of the vision and as if nothing had happened at all I tossed a cheerful smile to the doorman and stepped inside the smoky, low lit club. I couldn't keep the excited bounce from my steps nor the searching eyes from the customers that filled the room, glancing from one young man to an old then back into dark corners. Of course I had no reason to because I knew exactly where he would be.

Weaving through the company of men and passed two women laughing, I slid easily into a seat at the booth in the far corner with a smile pasted onto my face. I really could not help the emotions that rose in me, keeping me in an all but vibrating state as I casually raised my eyes to meet dark red. _This is so exciting. Oh god, it's really **him**! _ My thoughts screamed at me, and yet I did nothing to quiet them. He stared back at me with red eyes, with his hair in a messy disarray and stubble on his jaw. His shoulders were held back in a military stance despite the slouch he was currently sporting, arms resting lazily on the table before him and eyes firmly focused on me and my cheerful smile. He didn't look confused so much as perplexed, as if I were an interesting puzzle that he was very eager to figure out, and he was certainly not threatened at all.

"Well, this is a surprise."

I giggled in response, because even if giggling had never been my thing before, it was definitely part of this body. Eyes twinkling in reminiscence of that creepy Dumbledore character back in my old life, I placed my elbows on the table and curved my hands under my chin and with a cute tilt of my head, responded, "I aim to please!"

He leaned forward then, his own lips curving into a more mischievous smile. Demeanor all but screaming 'I'm looking for a good time' and crossed his hands over each other. I nearly shivered at the penetrating stare.

"So then what might I call you, little lady?" His response was hearty and fit his character.

I beamed, "Hi Garrett. My name's Alice!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 3 more chapters written but not edited for ao3 so they won't be posted for a few days.


	3. Happy Birthday

“What about that one?”

 

“Hm, no, he won’t taste any good. You’ll gag.”

 

“I never gag! Are you telling me I’m deficient?!”

 

“You said it, not me!” I giggle; delighted at the way the conversation was turning.  Swinging my legs back and forth, my heels hitting the side of the building we were sitting on, I leant over slightly to peer down at the passerby’s. It was funny, but 3 months ago and I would have never thought that I’d be sitting here with him on the rooftop of a building in Denver. Garrett and I had bonded so closely and so quickly that I was nearly frightened that it was a mate bond, if such a thing existed.

 

It was only after I’d totally freaked out after only 4 days of knowing him that Garrett found out and then promptly wouldn’t _stop laughing_. I kicked him in the shins. Not that it had stopped him at all, he had just laughed harder because apparently getting ‘kicked by a midget’ was even more hilarious. I focused in on a blonde woman walking rather quickly with a confident stride and in the next second Garrett’s pointed finger was tossed out in front of my face towards her.

 

“That one?”

 

I scoffed, “Too bland.”

 

I could all but hear his pout and with a sideways glance at him, sure enough, he was pouting before an exaggerated look of concentration appeared on his face as he continued to scan the street below. My lips tugged into a fondly amused smile, even as I watched his eyes light up in delight and point dramatically at a young man exiting a car.

 

“That’s the one! I know it is!”

 

I couldn’t help myself then and followed his eyes to the young man now walking towards a building, and nodded with a serious and solemn look on my face. The man in question could not be more than 17 or 18 years old with a long, drawn face and sunken eye; handsome, if not extremely tired from a long day.

 

“Yes. He’s British.”

 

Garrett promptly recoiled, nearly unseating himself from the edge and whipped his head around to stare at me in horrified disbelief.

 

“My god woman! Don’t do that to me!”

 

I burst into a fit of giggles, doubling over with my arms coming around to support my torso. I was laughing so hard that I nearly leaned right off the edge of my seat and fell through the air, if it weren’t for a hand suddenly grabbing the collar of my blouse and pulling me back. I landed on my back on the rooftop, unable to stop the giggles that poured out of me, and glancing up at his disgruntled and unamused expression, burst into laughter anew.

 

“Y-y-your f-face!” I gasped out; far too amused to bother trying to reel myself back in.

 

He scowled down at me, arms crossed and eyes narrowed; an expression that just screamed displeased and incredulous at the same time. For some reason, Garrett had this notion that if he ate anyone with British blood that he’d become poisoned, or something along those lines. I didn’t actually try to understand that logic, but I am pretty sure it’s just a phase for him anyways because from what I remember of my past life he was never that picky.

 

“It isn’t that funny.” He mumbled, turning away from my hysterical laughter in disgust to go back to browsing his choices. After a moment, I settled myself only to look up in time to see him disappear over the edge of the building. Amused despite the fact that what we were talking about is technically, completely inappropriate; I pick myself up and sit back down on the ledge. Taking a moment in Garrett’s absence, I think back on the past few months.

 

Meeting Garrett had been like a breath of fresh air, or mace to the face, but either way meeting him had gotten me back on my feet. I had existed so long in denial of my circumstances despite the fact that I had constantly told myself that I _had_ accepted my death and rebirth. It isn’t any easier now, really, because I still can’t remember what had happened. The little that gets through the cracks however, leads me to believe that it’s really not what I think. I had died, yes, but it was not that simple.

 

I had the sinking suspicion that I really was Alice and only remember my past life because the venom had woken it while taking the memories of my _current_ life. It’s only a little distressing to be honest. Mostly, I’m too distracted by how ridiculous Garrett is to be bothered by my epiphany. Well, maybe not so much as an epiphany as more of a suspicion but the point still stands. Still, in the times that I now have to myself I can’t help but wonder what this all means.

 

If my suspicion rings true, then the fact that I am Alice could possibly mean that the Alice of Before was me too which means… Well, it means my plan to “mess shit up” really won’t happen. Really, that just gets me all up in arms because I’m a stubborn bitch at heart and I don’t just take things lying down. _Ugh, this makes my head hurt…_ I grumbled inwardly. My eyes quickly pinpoint Garrett on the street below, tucked into an alleyway across from my seated position.

 

As unfocused as I was, I could still appreciate the fact that even as I am now, I’m still in some ways _me_. It only really makes sense in my head, but for the past two years I’d been so afraid of the fact that I’d woken up in a fictional characters body that I’d kind of just gone with the flow and blocked everything else out. My tentative plan of “messing shit up” was really no plan at all, to be honest, just an effort to distract myself from my new life. Even then, I really had no idea _how_ I would complete that plan. I had a few inklings of ideas, such as screwing with the Volturi for shits and giggles, and perhaps leading them on a wild goose chase but for the most part I was floundering in this new life. Rolling my eyes at my thoughts, I returned my attention to my new best friend.

 

He must have felt me looking because the next second he is looking up from where he was holding his prey – a young man of only 17 – against the wall and grinned at me while waggling his eyebrows. I can’t help but giggle. Like I said, he was a bit ridiculous but I can’t help myself. Garrett is my soul brother. Sliding off the edge of the building, I hit the ground with nary a sound and dance my way across the street just in time to see him drop the corpse to the ground. Wiggling my finger at him in a ‘no,no’ gesture I quickly move over and depose of the corpse into the nearby dumpster. I spin on my heel and with my hands on my hips, pout at him.

 

“You made a mess of things, again. He’ll be missed.”

 

He simply grinned at me, looking smug. Rolling my eyes, I glance over my shoulder at the dumpster before shrugging and walking over to Garrett. Grabbing his hand, I tug him with me into the street and with a giggle; I raise his hand above my head and pirouette beneath it. A tug on my hand brought me spinning back to him causing me to grasp onto the front of his vest to steady myself. Cocking my head to the side, I peer up at him through my bangs with an innocent look that just screamed , ‘Who? Me?’ He rolled his eyes.

 

“Don’t be ridiculous, little lady. You’d have seen it.”

 

I pout, “I did see it!”

 

“You would have _stopped_ it.” He pointed out, his hands falling to my hips then spinning me around so my back was flush with his front as he danced us casually down the street and garnering many, many looks from the humans in the process. I shrug loftily and twirl around only to dance out of his hold to walk beside him.

 

“Well, true.” Suddenly perking up, I bounced on my feet with a grin earning a familiar baffled look from my companion. “Let’s go to New York!”

 

Brow furrowing momentarily in confusion the expression quickly smoothed out and he shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. He obviously didn’t understand _why_ I wanted to go to New York but, as always, indulged me.

 

“Yes, okay.”

 

I beamed, “Great! Then we can take the boat to England.”

 

It didn’t even take a second for him to burst out into a curse filled sentence of abhorrence and objection. I giggled a little maniacally and took off at a run straight out of the little neighborhood we’d found ourselves in and deeper into the city, leaving my protesting friend behind. I found myself suddenly stopping on a long street with a row of shops off to one side. Biting my lower lip in thought, I stepped in front of one shop in particular, gazing at the merchandise in the window. Garrett was there in seconds, standing at my shoulder and staring quizzically at what I was looking at.

 

Nodding once in a decisive manner, I slipped past him and opened the door, preparing to enter only to pause at the sound of his voice calling out to me. Turning my head to look over at him, I pursed my lips in an effort not to smile at the look of bewilderment on his face.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

All I did was give him an innocent look in response and duck inside, quickly heading over to what I saw from the window. I stood in front of the display and stared at it in utter glee.  Feeling him at my back, I let myself grin and reached out, snagging them from the display and sashaying happily over to the counter. Beaming at the man at the cash register, he gave me a hesitant smile in return and picked them up.

 

“A good choice, Miss. May I ask the occasion?” He questioned politely as he wrung them up. I gave a small laugh, eyes sparkling with mirth even as I turn and hold out my hand expectantly to Garrett. With a disgruntled look from beneath his long hair, he dug into his pocket and promptly deposited some cash in my held out hand. I turn back to the man at the counter and smile brightly, forking the cash over.

 

“Oh, just a gift.” I said cheerfully; watching with giddy excitement as he went about wrapping them in paper. Pausing, he looked up briefly, “Would you like them gift wrapped then?”

 

“Oh! Yes, please!”

 

He smiled at me and finished wrapping them, even adding a bright blue bow on top of the package. Grabbing the package, I give the man a smile full of teeth causing him to recoil almost violently before all but skipping out of the shop. As soon as we were outside, Garrett looked down at me with a brow raised.

 

“Why did you just buy ballroom gloves?”

 

Innocently, I tilted my head in a cutesy gesture and fluttered my eyelashes up at him. Really, it’s not like I could resist when I saw the shop I’d been passing. It had been a split second decision, but as soon as I’d made it I didn’t even have to _imagine_ the look on his face once he got the gift. So of course, I answered in the most matter of fact way possible.

 

“I thought Aro might like them.”

 

Complete silence greeted my statement and, curious, I looked up at my companion to see why he wasn’t giving me one of his usual smartass remarks. Instead of a cocky smirk and a quirked brow, I was greeted with a total look of disbelief and shock as if he couldn’t believe the words that just came out of my mouth. Concerned when the look stayed after a few minutes, I wave my hand in front of his face.

 

“I think I broke him.” I muttered, brow furrowing. Poking him in the cheek then pulling a funny face did absolutely nothing besides causing his eyes to narrow and his lips twist into a confused frown. _One pair of gloves? $2 Postage to Italy? 10c give or take a few more. Making Garrett speechless? Hehehe… priceless._ I thought, in utter amusement. Humming thoughtfully under my breath after another glance at his frozen form, I shrug and turn around to go to the Post Office. I’d need to write a letter, preferably with some perfume or some such to cover up my scent because I did not want Demetri on my tail.

 

As I walked, I mused on just what I would write in my greeting. ‘ _Hello Aro! Nice to meet you! You don’t know me, but I know you! I thought you might like these for your skin condition on those **special** occasions for guests. No need to pay me back, see you soon! xoxo’ _ Wrinkling my nose at the mental note, I shook my head. I would need to come up with something better.

 

 

 

**Meanwhile, In Volterra**

 

“Master, you have a package from overseas. I believe it is a gift.”

 

Aro looked up from where he was bent over an old, twine bound text and grinned happily. Straightening, he clapped his hands together in front of him and responded with a giddy, “Oh, how delightful!”

 

Striding forward, he held out his hand with an expectant and none too patient gaze. The vampire in the dark charcoal cloak bowed lowly and held out the gift wrapped package covered in mailing stamps and odd looking drawings of smiley faces. Aro took it and stared down at it in befuddlement for a few seconds before smiling with glee. It took him seconds to find himself seated in his throne with the package in his lap and just as he was about to open it Caius opened his mouth.

 

“Brother, what is it?”

 

Irritation swelled inside and with a brief stern look towards the pale king, he replied with stark annoyance, “It is a gift, dear brother, one I have yet to open.” Caius narrowed his eyes with a hiss at the attitude given to him, turning and snarling at the guard still standing there. The guard quickly bowed and disappeared from the room and with a hint of frustration Caius returned his attention to Aro. Aro. who at the moment was staring down at the opened package in his lap with bewilderment.

 

“Well?” Caius asked impatiently.

 

Aro blinked, then lifted up a pair of royal blue women’s ballroom gloves allowing them to dangle from his fingertips. Even Marcus, so usually oblivious to what goes on around him, tuned into the strange sight of Aro holding women’s gloves. Baffled, Aro picked up the folded letter he had yet to read and flipped it open and as his eyes scanned it quickly, irritation and anger grew pronounced on his usually giddy and gleeful face.

 

“Aro!” Caius snapped, beyond annoyed now. In reply, the letter was thrust out at him and with another annoyed look to the now snarling touch telepath he took the letter and started to read.

 

_‘Greetings Pasty King,_

_It’s getting chilly out. You don’t know me, of course, but I know all about you! I saw these in a shop and thought of you. It must be very difficult to get around with such a terrible skin condition like yours. I thought in your old age you might appreciate such a thoughtful gift! Why, aren’t they absolutely divine? Do tell your brothers I said Hello. Or is it Ciao? I can never remember._

_Pixie_

_P.S. You might want to tell Caius to stop glaring all the time. His face might get stuck that way, if it hasn’t already._

_P.P.S. Oh, and let Jane know that it’s not nice to pull pigtails all the time will you?_

_P.P.P.S Almost forgot! Aro, you bad boy you, I know what you did._

Despite himself, Caius couldn’t help but be somewhat amused by the letter and the precociousness of the sender; until he got to the end. Eyes narrowing at not only the jibe at him but at the last words to Aro he turned in his seat to look at his all but howling brother.

 

“Aro! What did they mean? What did you do?” He demanded, incensed that even more secrets were being kept.

 

It was enough to make Aro stop in his tracks but not enough to make him answer Caius in a way that satisfied him. Marcus, as ever, was oblivious and lost in his wayward and thus depressing thoughts.

 

“I have no idea brother. Whoever sent this must be found and questioned, lest they spread dissatisfying rumors of us.” It was the only reply Caius was likely to get considering the circumstances, and once given he had no time to question Aro further as he had disappeared out of the hall, most likely to go complain to Sulpicia. How that woman put up with his irritating behavior was beyond Caius’ understanding.

 

“Demetri!” Caius roared.

 

“Yes, Master?” Demetri obediently murmured with a bow, appearing in front of Caius within seconds from the edge of the room. Caius thrust the letter and package, gloves in tact, towards him. “Here, find who sent this. Now!”

 

Demetri took the package and letter and bowed once more with an agreed mutter of “Yes, Master.” He turned on his heel and left the hall, leaving Caius to lean back in his throne with a scowl on his face. Seconds passed in which the scowl stayed, until suddenly the words of the letter came back and he forcefully smoothed his features out. It wouldn’t _really_ get stuck would it?

 

 

 

“Stop staring at me.”

 

I tilted my head, unblinking.

 

“Alice.”

 

It was a warning. I simply smiled in return.

 

An exasperated sigh, a glance to his left at me, then an irritated mutter of, “Stop staring, little devil.”

 

“I think you should cut your hair short.” I stated firmly. My stare remained intense and focused on him, studying his profile from my perch on a park bench. We are currently in New York City and have been for the past couple of months now. Garrett still point blank refused to get on a boat and go to England, but I had decided that I should probably wait for at least a while anyways considering the war over there. Well, that and the fact that I’d sent that letter to Aro a while back and was completely uncertain whether going to Italy would invoke Demetri onto my trail or not.

 

Visions, you’d think they’d be useful for that kind of thing.

 

His head whipped towards me at my words, baffled. “What? Why?” Confusion warred with surprise on his face, followed quickly by a grimace as he ran his hand through his thick, sandy brown locks of hair. “I think it suits me.” He mused, “I’ve had it this way since I changed.”

 

I sigh, “I know. That’s why you need to cut it.” I beamed suddenly, shifting onto my knees with my feet tucked beneath me. “We can always get you a wig first. See how you look with short hair.” To be honest, the only thing I was really thinking was that Garrett really does look a whole lot like Lee Pace. I know for a fact that Lee Pace looked great with short, styled hair from when I was, well, dead.

 

“I am not wearing a wig.” He deadpanned, turning away from me and back to people watching. How boring. A heavy sigh accompanied my disappointment which clearly amused Garrett to no end if his little smirk was anything to go by, the dick. With a pout, I crossed my arms and turned my back to him with a slouch on the park bench. In the next second, however, I found myself stiffening.

 

_The first thing to notice about her were the wild red curls, pinned up into a pragmatic bun beneath a wide brimmed lady’s hat. They were eye catching and drew attention like a moth to a flame, but despite the deep red color it was the eyes that really held the attention of a passerby. Despite the cool blue coloring, it was more the emotion caught behind them that appealed to others. Longing, eagerness, and a somewhat poignant pain that defied her outward character, even, perhaps, the result of something she held close to her heart._

_It was evident, upon looking at her, that despite how happy she appeared as she stood at the windowpane gazing out at the street, that she was missing a piece in her life that truly mattered. A voice sounded throughout the home and with a turn of her head, her attention is drawn away from the view of the outside – and her longing – to the door of the parlor she stood in. In the next moment, a man of tall stature and broad shoulders appeared in the doorway with a solemn gaze that wrenched through her, burrowing deep and digging its claws so tightly into her heart that she already knew._

_Gasping for breath that wouldn’t come, her pale hands reached out for the wall next to her even as her legs failed her sending her to the settee. The man reacted rather quickly, striding forward with a confidence in his movements that seemed rather natural to him. Suddenly enveloped in warm, familiar arms she collapsed into the older gentlemen and found her tears escaped her regardless of how hard she tried to quell them._

_“Hush, darling, hush. She would want you happy.”_

_His soothing tenor struck her as odd and offsetting, causing her to throw herself away from him with a cry of hostility. How could he even think such a thing, when this pain was eating away at her so readily. In seconds, she stood a few feet away with her arms wrapped tightly about herself as if trying to hold her heart within her chest._

_“How could you say that, papa?!” She echoed, turning a pain filled gaze upon him. He had not moved except to clench his fists upon his lap, his own matching pair of cool blue looking upon her with such a heart wrenching expression of helplessness. It was apparent that he had no idea what to do with her or the situation._

_“Mama is gone. All you can say is that she would want me to be happy about this?! I could never be happy about this!” She cried, terrified in the face of the loss she found herself a part of. Her mother had been her world, and what was her world without her mother?_

I recognized the woman in my vision immediately, though confusion stirred within me as to why I had even seen her. Clearly, she had yet to be changed but then why… Utterly perplexed, I turned away from staring at the buildings in the distance to look at Garrett who was watching me with a look of expectancy on his face. Inspiration struck like a meteor to my head as I stared back at him, unblinking as my thoughts whirled in circles. _Oh hell no! Really? That’s… that makes no sense though…_ I mused, shaking my head almost violently to get the thought out of my brain. I needed brain bleach, ugh.

 

“Little Devil.”

 

Then again, it possibly solves everything if its true. I had never had a vision about something that had not directly affected me or who I was looking for. Jasper, of course, affected me in such a major – and here I inwardly sniggered at the pun – way that it was not at all surprising I had so many _detailed_ visions of him. Hell, since meeting Garrett I’d even started getting random visions of what _he gets up to_ when I’m not around. The squirrel had been particularly disturbing…

 

“Allie-cakes.”

 

So then why this vision and why about _her_ of all people; surely she wasn’t going to be my new best friend? Oh gross, I can just imagine it now. No, there was no way she was one of my friends. The question remained: why have such detailed visions about her out of the blue? Clearly, yes, she was in New York City, which was where Garrett and I are currently but beyond that…

 

“Alice!”

 

Jolted out of my rapidly forming panic, I spun around and stare up at Garrett’s concerned face with an echo of my confusion plastered all over me. He frowned, reaching out to tug on a strand of my dark hair and then promptly pulling me into an embrace. A human couple passed us by in the next second that sent flames of thirst up my throat and even as the woman smiled at our embrace in affection and understanding the venom flooded my mouth. She smelled mouthwatering and it took all I had in me to turn my face into Garrett’s chest and bite down _hard_. He hissed through his teeth at the feel of my teeth ripping into him, his own arms tightening around me in alarm and pain.

 

“Damn it all, what the hell is that for you little devil?!” He growled out through clenched teeth, quietly.

 

I didn’t say a word or move for the next few minutes and neither did Garrett, obviously understanding that _something_ had gone considerably wrong. Apparently, that vision had taken me so off guard that I had not foreseen my _singer_ of all things. _Because this makes all the sense in the fucking world_ , I thought darkly. Releasing my teeth from his chest, I slip out of his arms and pat him on the cheek with a falsely cheerful smile.

 

“Sorry, baby face, I needed a moment.”

 

His eyes narrowed at me, ignoring my clearly demasculating nickname and instead studying me with an intensity I had still not gotten used to. Garrett could be fucking scary, let me tell you.  My smile slipped and fell, so instead I grimaced and answered his unspoken questions.

 

“She was my singer. Sorry I bit you, I… didn’t see that coming.”

 

At this admittance, he lit up like a star on a Christmas tree, his shit eating grin so blindly I just had to look away with a pout and cross my arms defiantly. His chuckles came next before I suddenly felt the weight of his arm resting cross my shoulders and him pulling me into his side. Almost flailing with the unexpected movement, I elbowed him in the side and wiggled out of his hold with a glare.

 

“Oh don’t look at me like that, you were asking for it.” He said, still grinning.

 

Well, two could play at that game. Clearly, that vision had meant _something_ and whether or not that something was for me or Garrett or even someone else I’d meet down the line, we were staying in New York and befriending her. So, smiling brightly, I twirled on my heels and bounced away from him with an eager stride.

 

“C’mon Mister Revolution, we have to go find Victoria.”

 

“Who the fuck is Victoria?”

 

“Oooh, but first, let’s stop in here! It’s perfect!”

 

“Little Devil…. Why are you buying skin care cream?”

 

“It’s for Aro.”

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Mysterious Alice

I hated her. It was officially official, but I absolutely _loathed_ Victoria Bickett. I had expected to _dislike_ her; of course, because of the role she would play in the far future and the role I’d already seen her play in my previous life. Nonetheless, I had not expected how _innocent_ , _sweet_ , and _naïve_ she apparently is in her human life. It’s true that she does have a certain fire to her that flares up in unexpected moments, mostly when Garrett is his usual _charming_ self – note the sarcasm – but for the most part the woman is just plain _irritating_. Just _how_ can someone be so naïve?

 

When I had seen her in my vision, the one of her losing her mother, I had expected someone a little more, well, more. I guess that just goes to show how much I’m already starting to rely on my visions. _Ugh, gag me._ I thought in disgust as another high pitched giggle sounded throughout the theatre. I’d had a smile pasted onto my face all evening, trying to ignore how much I wanted to dig my teeth into her neck and _drink_ until she didn’t exist anymore. A sideways glance told me that yes, Garrett was still at it, and yes, she was still falling for it.

 

I sighed heavily and glanced around the New York theater we’d found in an effort to appear civilized and somewhat normal. It was called the Princess Theater and tonight it was housing Eva La Galliene, a nominal sensation of a Broadway actress that had not only played her roles in America but across the seas in Europe too. Apparently she is a rather big thing, and it brought a crowd that made me want to gouge my eyes out instead of being in the thick of it. _Alas_ , I had to charm my way into Victoria’s good graces. We’d been here for little more than an hour waiting on the production of _The Master Builder_ and in the interim while Garrett worked his magic on _her princessness_ I’d been hiding in this corner away from prying eyes while trying to calm my bloodlust.

 

Let me tell you, _not easy_.

 

In truth, it was not that Victoria was particularly hard hearted, no that was more myself in this case, but that her entire personality just rubbed me the wrong way. Pity, really, because I’d had a little hope at the very least. Instead all I really wanted was to kill her and be done with it, but I couldn’t. Not only was Garrett falling all over himself – seriously, it was embarrassing for a grown man to act that way – but James would be here any day now and she was my bait for my very clever _trap_. If only my bimbo best friend would _shut up_ for five seconds, then maybe I could even grow to like her a _little_ bit and save her life.

 

That was like asking for unicorns to be real. Unattainable; he would _never_ shut up.

 

With a heavy sigh on the verge of escaping me, I bit the inside of my cheek, straightened my shoulders, and made my way through the bustling, noisy crowd of bloodbags – so sue me, I happened to be in a terrible mood – to Garrett and Victoria. Immediately upon sliding up silently next to Victoria on her left, Garrett winked at me exaggeratedly and opened his big, _fat_ mouth.

 

“Finally decided to join the party and stop being an antisocial wallflower, little devil?”

 

Victoria, in turn, glanced to her left at me and promptly jumped. I could hear her heartbeat skyrocket in her chest, the ba-dump ba-dump going off rhythm for barely half a second but enough to get my thirst whirling. I swallowed back the venom rising in my throat and tossed a bright smile at her in which she gave a somewhat weak, bewildered smile in return.

 

“Apologies, apple head, I was thinking.”

 

Garrett looked confused; the expression on his face one that would swim in my memories for years to come and straight away my mood was brightened. I adored throwing him off, and calling him names that came out of the blue and made no sense was one such way of doing it. Poor Garrett always tried to figure out what they meant, or how I’d even come up with them for that matter. He never really succeeded.

 

“You’re exasperating.” He deadpanned.

 

I laughed, slipping my arm through Victoria’s with a barely withheld shudder, “What can I say? I am very clever!”

 

Victoria released another high-pitched giggle and for a second I could have sworn my ears were bleeding. In an effort not to reach up and check them, I instead reached out with my free hand and pinched Garrett’s cheek with a cheeky smile.

 

“Don’t worry Baby Face, we all still love you. Not everyone can be so smart.”

 

Baffled, he reeled back from me and turned to our newest companion with a fake wounded look.

 

“Dearest Victoria, you don’t believe that, do you?”

 

She smiled beautifully at him and demurely replied, “Not at all, Sir. You are quite an upstanding gentleman.”

 

He shot me a victorious look, “She called me a gentleman.”

 

I quirked a brow, tilting my head towards him as I glanced at her; she giggled. If there was one thing that Victoria and I had in common, then it was our love of tormenting my favorite best friend. Admittedly, it had taken her a few visits to warm up to the idea. It didn’t surprise me any though, after all one day she’d be quite good at tormenting people; or not, if I had any say in it. Sighing in a manner of embellished long-suffering, I took one brief glance at the clock above the theater doors and tugged gently on the redhead’s arm tucked with mine.

“Well, it looks like the show is about to start. Shall we?” I questioned cheerfully.

 

She smiled brightly at me in return, nodding decisively even as she blushed at Garrett’s close scrutiny of her. If only she knew that he wasn’t looking at her as a woman but currently contemplating if he could get away with draining her in such a busy theater. I shook my head in amusement and reached out to pinch him on the hip. Jerking away from me, he shot me a look of such startled horror it almost sent me into a fit of giggles. He was so very _dramatic_.

 

Lowering my voice so Victoria wouldn’t hear me with her lacking human senses, I talked quickly out of the corner of my mouth to Garrett in an effort to stall his decision for a little longer.

 

“Garrett. You can’t eat her. Not yet, anyways, and definitely not here.” I said quickly, stressing the last word. His lips twitched downward into a parody of a frown so very briefly I was positive she didn’t see it; though with a quick sideways glance at Victoria, I could clearly see that she seemed puzzled by the sudden buzzing that had taken up the air around us. A passing look exchanged between Garrett and I and he was fast to derail her line of questioning that was about to start.

 

“Well, ladies? Allow me to be your very handsome escort to our seats.” He said suavely, holding out both arms to us. The waggling of his brows, however, ruined it. Quirking a brow, I sniffed self-importantly with my nose in the air and promptly dug my heel into his toe. He yelped rather loudly, drawing the attention from the humans around us as he hopped away from me. Victoria once again sent a stream of irritating giggles into my ear from my left. Winking at him, I tugged on her arm and led us towards the hall doors; my mind jumping back to when we introduced ourselves to our… lovely companion.

 

**3 Weeks Ago, New York City, New York.**

I was lounging in a chair at the corner café on 22nd Street, thumbing boringly through a magazine about women’s fashion and homemaking when a body thumped down loudly in the chair across from me. Not even bothering to raise my eyes from the rather _fascinating_ article on lemon scented versus lavender scented cleaning soap – note the sarcasm here – I released a questioning hum under my breath.

 

“Relax, little devil, she’s two minutes away.”

 

At this, I glanced up with a raised brow and stared pointedly at the blood on his collar. Garrett’s lips turned down in a confused frown at me, and it was only when he finally followed my gaze to my rather pointed look at the collar of his shirt, that he returned me a guilty, sheepish and all too innocent look. Honestly, he looked like a little boy that had gotten caught with his eyes planted firmly on an older woman’s derriere; that is, a mix of mischievous, innocent, and curiously guilty.

 

“Oh really, pickleface, go clean yourself up before you give our new friend a heart attack.”

 

Chuckling, he stood and sauntered towards the doors of the café with a devil may care air; drawing looks from not only the passing women but the men too. I rolled my eyes with fond exasperation. I adored Garrett, I really did, but sometimes he was just too much. If it wasn’t enough that he had to have a mid morning snack on the way here after checking on our target, now he had to draw attention to himself by being, well, himself. _Attention whore! Alert! Alert!_ I thought with a demented little giggle to myself. The odd and slightly scared looks I drew in reaction were worth it.

 

Leaning back against the chair, I craned my neck to look down the sidewalk. _3… 2… 1… Ah! Right on time._ I thought with smug satisfaction, the glimpse of fiery curls tucked neatly beneath a hat catching my eye. As she got closer, I took the time to make sure my scene was set just the way I wanted it and sure enough, with a roving eye, I spotted all chairs and tables taken… except for ours. Pretending to take a sip of steaming tea, I demurely lowered my lids and studied her under my lashes as she approached and went inside.

 

Not a moment later and she was walking out with what looked like a blueberry scone and a coffee, glancing around the chairs with a slight air of distraction and distress. Hiding my gleeful smile behind my cup of tea, I raised my eyes a second later and caught hers. A slight lowering of my teacup allowed me to pass a bashful smile her way, and then I ducked my head and waited. Sure enough, she was standing there and clearing her throat quietly.

 

“Hello. May I take a seat with you?” She questioned softly, her voice a high timbre in her throat as if she were on the edge of screaming. It was a strange quality and instantly reminded me of the ‘her’ I knew before I was Alice.

 

“Of course, please, sit.” I offered, lowering my cup to the table and sending her a cheery smile. “My name is Alice. May I know yours?”

 

“Victoria Bickett.” She murmured, “I apologize for intruding. There are simply no other seats available.”

 

I waved my hand dismissively, “It’s no problem, please. I could use the intelligent company.”

 

Her eyes widened then as she looked passed me just in time for a rough, heavy hand to land on my shoulder and _squeeze._ I nearly squeaked at the feeling, expecting it but not believing it would be so hard, and shifted forward in order to tilt my head back to look up at a smugly grinning face covered in dark stubble.

 

“Are you telling tales again Allie-cat?” He purred, releasing me and taking a seat to my left.

 

I scoffed, “No. I was simply offering Vicki here a compliment.”

 

“Right. Because that’s normally something you do. Compliment strangers.” He deadpanned.

 

Victoria, the poor thing, looked out of sorts at the sudden appearance of Garrett and the less than subtle bantering we’d engaged in. She shifted in apparent discomfort, and set her coffee upon the table.

 

“I apologize again. Truly, I will find another table.” She said, starting to rise.

 

I slapped my hand on the table with a little more force than I meant to, causing her to jump in alarm and her heartbeat to skyrocket. I could hear the blood rushing overtime in her veins, working to pump that little bit more in reaction to her nerves. I swallowed, convulsively, and calmed myself with a slow breath out through my parted lips. Garrett leaned forward, resting an arm casually along the back of my chair and allowing his fingers to caress the back of my neck in an effort to soothe my inner beast, as it were.

 

Sending him a bright smile, he winked back at me, and we both turned our attention to a nervous redhead wondering just what the hell she’d gotten herself into as her instincts screamed ‘Danger! Abort! Abort!’ in her ear. I could just imagine the obnoxiously loud voice it’d have too.

 

“No, it’s my turn for apologies Victoria. I didn’t mean to drag you into a family affair, I’m afraid.” I said, my tone apologetic. “This is Garrett, my older brother.” At this, I offered my hand in his direction as if showing off a prize pig; which, really, is not such a stretch with how he’d shown up to this café in the first place.

 

Her heartbeat steadied in her chest, and although her smile was a little tremulous, it was genuine as she nodded at my apology. I went to speak again, only to freeze with my hand hovering over my cup. Garrett was quick to grab her attention, saying something a long the lines of how lovely a shade her red hair was but I was oblivious.

 

_It was on a street in New York City, somewhere close to Central Park, where I had my arm slipped through Garrett’s and his was holding gently onto Victoria’s elbow. I could feel my irritation with the current situation skyrocketing, even as I did my best to tune out her high pitched giggling and Garrett’s attempt at charming her skirt off. A glance up at the sky revealed dark, stormy clouds that swirled with the onset of a storm yet no storm was forthcoming. It had been this way for hours so far, and as we turned into the Park I allowed myself to slip away from Garrett’s arm and Victoria’s giggling just in time._

_A ray of sunshine fell upon the place I’d just been walking, and Garrett, bless him, sidestepped it so easily it looked as if he had been expecting it too. He could have been, he’d always taken my queues without difficulty. Glancing down up at the sky, I made note of the timing of the sun as I always did and stepped back over to him as soon as the clouds passed overhead. It was bad enough I had to get into her good graces, but watching him turn into a smooth talker with her just miffed me entirely. I felt a squeeze on my forearm and shot a reassuring smile towards him, glancing once more up at the sky. We’d have to dodge the sun quite a bit this afternoon._

 

I was quick to come back to myself, and in all reality missed perhaps a few seconds of the conversation in which Garrett used to fluster her to the point where her skin matched her hair rather nicely. Picking up my cup, I studied the woman across from me for a scant second as her brilliant red face slowly started to return to normal. Confused, I turned my eyes to my soul brother.

 

“What did you just do?” I asked quietly and quickly, vampire level. In reply, he waggled his eyebrows in an obscene gesture and I rolled my eyes with a look of ‘I should have known’ on my face.

 

Turning back to our company, I gave her another apologetic smile because I was just racking those up today, and commented quietly, “I’m sorry for him. He tends to shove his foot in his mouth more often than he thinks.”

 

She giggled quietly as Garrett released a loud and offended, ‘Hey!’, and I smiled smugly. Motioning to her own coffee with mine, I once again pretending to sip it as I went back to studying her intently. She was dressed simply in the women’s fashion of today, with a prim and proper hat that looked as if it were all but stitched onto her head. A few stray curls seemed to have escaped from their pins and hung lazily on either side of her long and narrow face, while the rest of the fiery mass was twisted up into either a pinned bun or a French braid of some sort. I wouldn’t really know, seeing as how I happen to be absolutely terrible at hair of any kind, meaning I am exceptionally glad to have all but lost it all in that Asylum.

 

On my good days, I actually attempt to do something with my pixie styled hair but for the most part I just run my fingers through it then leave it alone. Thinking a long those lines though, it’s not wonder that I get such crazy looks sometimes and it’s not because of the dancing either. So I dance down the street sometimes, who doesn’t? Pfft, humans.

 

Focusing my attention once more, I note the array of freckles laid out across her nose and under her eyes. It drew attention to her very blue eyes, a pale shade on the verge of silver but mostly just clear bright blue. Considering the time I was currently in, and yes it may be the Roaring 20’s but I still found it quite boring, Victoria’s coloring and style of dress was actually considered ‘out of style’. She wore hats, constantly, as if it would somehow hide the mass of red curls she’d been blessed or cursed with and always had on an overcoat that left her slim, lithe frame appearing frumpy and straight lined. It didn’t seem to matter however, because the woman still drew attention everywhere she went.

 

“It’s quite alright… I… just didn’t expect that.” She commented quietly, a small blush still fading from her cheeks.

 

Garrett grinned, “Expect the unexpected with us, Victoria.”

 

At this comment, she lowered her eyes to the table with a small smile on her painted lips. Blinking slowly, I glanced up at the darkening midday sky and pondered if I should follow through with my vision to walk through the park with them. It only took a second look at Garrett and his eagerness towards Victoria to nix that idea though. As soon as I decided not to, I closed my eyes as another scene flashed through my mind.

 

Now that. _That_ I wouldn’t mind.

 

All but bouncing in my chair, I reached out and clasped Victoria’s wrist and Garrett’s arm as a bright grin spread across my lips. I could feel the stretch in my cheeks my grin was so large and Garrett, the poor man looking utterly confused, just took it all in stride and reached over to calm me by putting one hand firmly on my head and pushing down. I stilled in my seat nearly immediately, looking across to see Victoria was staring at me as if I’d suddenly grown another head.

 

“Let’s go to a jazz club!”

 

Suffice it to say, we went to a jazz club.

 

**Present Day, 2 Days After the Theater**

Giggling broke the silence in the store, and even though I didn’t exactly like her, I grinned at the reaction and set the postcard back down. Now, let it be known, that in the 1920’s even though there is a lot more freedom in many things there is still a sense of… decorum to be held. So what I usually find hilarious would be considered absolutely scandalous or unthought-of at this point in time. Disappointing, to be sure, but not the end of the world. There were still some things that I tended to find amusement in, and that didn’t just include tormenting poor innocent bystanders either; or tormenting Garrett for that matter.

 

Garrett was currently, somewhere, though considering what I’d seen earlier in the day it wouldn’t surprise me if he were hunting down our target at the present moment. Nonetheless, this left me with Victoria. So of course we went shopping, because what else could we possibly do as women in this day and age? Seriously, I already missed the good action movies and daredevil activities of the 21st Century.

 

So I’d dragged her into this shop not but 15 minutes ago, telling her rather seriously that…

 

“Oooh, Alice! Look at this one! Do you think he’d enjoy the humor in it?” Victoria squealed loudly, holding up a poster of a women sitting before a desk with a man behind her and in large, bold red letters the words “Criticism is necessary.” I was suddenly beside myself in glee.

 

“Oh my god Vic! Where did you find that one? It’s perfect!” I cried, excited.

 

Giggling quietly, she pointed to the poster stand not but two feet away from where she stood with numerous amounts of posters rolled and wrapped within and a sign above it saying, “Encouraging Management – Posters & Boards”. Strolling over, I took another look at the poster and suddenly dearly wished for the 2000s to roll around because the amount of things I could find in that day and age… I sighed with a little bit of wistfulness at the thought.

 

“I think my Uncle would love this.” I commented, “In fact, I do believe it’s the winner! It’s perfect for his audience chamber.”

 

She beamed at the approval, “I’m glad. You don’t think it’s a little much? Perhaps he should place it in his office instead.”

 

“No, no! Definitely for the audience chamber!” I hurried to say, reaching out and snatching the poster from her so quickly it left her with an unsettled and startled disposition. I ignored it in favor of gleefully looking over the poster again. Under the red letters, in the lower left hand corner were printed the words, “Helpful constructive criticism brings progress. Give it and take it cheerfully.” More than that though, was the white bolded letters at the bottom of the poster reading, “When You Listen You Learn.”

 

Yes, it was absolutely _perfect_.

 

Humming with delight, I turn to go buy it at the counter as Victoria returns to browsing. As the man behind the counter rings it up, I mentally count out how much I’d need to post it and calculate the closest distance to the post office from here. Glancing over my shoulder towards the door, I’m amused to see Garrett strolling in without a care in the world with his hands in his pockets. His hair was mussed, tangled a bit at the ends, and his shoulders were rolled back with that confident stride he always gets after a bit of satisfaction in _any_ area of his undead existence.

 

Quietly, I murmur towards him as he heads over to sneak up behind Victoria, “How did it go? Anything?” She was turned away from him studying a book, and as he snuck up behind her leering over her shoulder, he replied with an amused tone, “You didn’t say he had a companion. “

 

Victoria, still oblivious, didn’t even move as Garrett shadowed her around the store staying so close to her back that I was surprised she hadn’t felt the cold radiating out from his body. I shifted the poster in my left arm and leant against the wall close to the front of the store as I watched; amused at the situation and especially at the way Garrett would occasionally grab a hat to place on his dirtied locks. It was as he was placing a top hat on and making faces at the back of Victoria’s head that I finally replied.

 

“I didn’t think he did yet. I didn’t _see_ anyone. Was his companion dark skinned with dreads?” I questioned, curious. If it were, then that would mean he met Laurent already but considering the fact that Victoria is human in 1924 and a New Yorker where she should have been changed in 1560s… well, there were things about this Twilight Timeline that was just screwy from the beginning.

 

He put the top hat back and instead picked up a pair of knitting needles, holding them up behind Victoria’s back and pretending to stab her with a look of concentration on his face. The man behind the counter was watching him now with a dawning expression of horror and indignation and all I could do was snicker quietly and try to catch the man’s eye. The fact that it was pretty much impossible with the spectacle Garrett was making of himself was neither here nor there.

 

“Yep. He’s French too.” It was said with such an underlying tone of disgust that I couldn’t help but giggle, causing Victoria to look toward the sound only to shriek as she saw Garrett behind her grinning. Garrett, who, instead of having the knitting needles was now donning a polka dotted woman’s scarf, a wide brimmed woman’s hat, and sporting leopard patterned round-framed sunglasses. I did the only thing I could instead of bursting into a fit of inappropriate laughter; I literally face palmed.

 

“You… You scared me!” She breathed out, hand on her chest. Garrett, charmer that he is, just waggled his eyebrows behind the ridiculous sunglasses and posed with one hand on his hip and the other under his chin.

 

“You don’t think I’m pretty?” He pouted, exaggeratedly.

 

I couldn’t help it; I hid my face. I was so embarrassed for him, so embarrassed. “And this, is my idiot.” I muttered beneath my breath.

 

Victoria, on the other hand, found it absolutely adorable apparently because in the next half second her giggles sounded throughout the shop again. I looked up just in time to see her removing the hat, then the scarf, and finally the sunglasses from Garrett’s big head. He smirked down at her and leaned closer, sending her a flirty little smirk that suddenly had me hating the redhead even more. Before I knew it, I was placing a hand on the middle of his chest and gripping her elbow in my other hand.

 

Smiling brightly, I turn towards Victoria and hold up the poster.

 

“I think we are done here, don’t you? We should go so I can mail this.”

 

“Oh, of course!” She said happily, “I do hope he’ll like it.”

 

“Who likes what?” Garrett questioned, confused.

 

I shot a devious little smile his way and wiggled the poster back and forth even as we started towards the door and out the shop. It’s not my fault Victoria thought it was for my _uncle_ but what else was I supposed to tell her?

 

“I bought a gift for _Uncle Caius_ , you remember him?” I said, an innocent expression quickly overtaking the devious smile as Victoria looked at me. Garrett _stumbled_.

 

“U-uncle!?” He cried. Shooting me a look of complete disbelief, he continued with wariness to his tone that was _completely_ uncalled for. “Caius?! Are you sure that’s wise Allie-cat?”

 

I scoffed, waving a hand dismissively in the air and continued walking ahead as Victoria fell back to slip her arm through Garrett’s. Bristling, I all but stalked ahead of them as I stewed in my own frustration. What did he know anyways? It wasn’t like they’d ever _find_ me. Demetri had never met me, nor had any of the Volturi for that matter, and I always covered my scent by spraying a boatload of perfume on my letters and gifts that even had me gagging. It’s not like I’d ever get caught. Besides, it was always hilarious seeing the reactions to my gifts. My last one was to Aro again and had all but caused him to become apoplectic. The poor guard still hadn’t recovered from _that_ hissy fit. So maybe sending Aro some reading glasses and a bottle of anti-psychotic drugs was a bit over the top, but it was still funny.

 

Huffing, I slipped into the Post Office around the next corner and tried to forget how much I currently hated that little redheaded fast food. Why I didn’t just let James take a snack out of her I’ll never know. I guess I have to be some sort of humanlike _somewhere_. Speaking of _James_ …

 

_She was lying prostrate on a dirty, cracked wooden floor. Hair the color of a roaring flame was spread beneath her head, tangled and messy, but still appearing beautiful and untouchably soft. It was a very small room, with very little light shining in from the broken corner window.  Upon the walls were no decoration, and only the ceiling held anything of note, that being a frayed edged wooden fan that creaked and trembled with every passing breeze through the sparsely held together walls. She lay almost in the very center of the room, the door barely 3 feet from the top of her head._

_It would appear to be a very peaceful scene, if it were not for the piercing screams escaping her bulging throat. The sweat glistened upon her skin whenever the rays of the weak sunlight caught her at just the right angle, and her fingers, once well groomed and cared for, clawed at the gouges in the splintered floor leaving them bloody, torn mess. It was, by rights, both exceedingly beautiful in its scenic appearance and agonizingly painful to see. In the corner, scarcely hidden by the shadow of the room stood a tall, imposing figure with long discolored hair held in a low set thong of leather. On his shoulders he wore a threadbare, dark jacket open in the front with no shirt beneath to speak of. Likely still, was the set of the dark trousers upon his hips paired with his bare feet that spoke of a vagabond._

_It was the eyes staring unflinchingly and without remorse at the thrashing woman on the floor that spoke of demonic intentions. They were shining red and malicious, all but unsettling in the intensity held there within. He stood as a man with complete and utter control over the situation, knowledge of dark deeds, escapism, and clear intentions. He was the demon that played in every nightmare anyone had ever had, and he enjoyed it._

_At his core, knowing he’d won, satisfied something in him that gave rise to his next action. He shifted towards the woman on the floor, bypassing the door barely hanging on its hinges and crouched next to her form. As in pain as she was, he seemingly didn’t care as he reached out and caressed the hair clinging to her sweaty neck and shoulder. She wore no hat, no coat, and no distinction that would set her particularly apart. He’d taken the absolute care to remove her shoes, her jewelry, and the scent that had still been clinging to her very skin when he’d stolen her and bit into the very succulent meat of her shoulder._

_He didn’t know how he had the propensity to even stop. Tasting her blood was like tasting ambrosia come to life, like tasting the very best and very worst things of life and to pull away from that had taken all the willpower he’d had in him. Not for lack of care did he stop, although he certainly did not care for her in particularly, but instead it was the satisfaction that **this time** he had won his prey. It had sweetened the pot that he’d won this prey, this forever starling, from the prey he’d lost four years ago. It settled something in him._

_He grinned, fingers tightening around the arched throat and nails curving just so to pull blood up and out of the skin. Blood still smeared his lips and covered his teeth, some having splattered upon the collar of his jacket. His eyes left the abused woman on the floor and rose heavenward to the broken, tiny window in the corner. His lips curled._

Well, fuck.

 

**Meanwhile, In Volterra**

_Dear He-Who-Lies-A-Lot,_

_Please do pass this onto your brother Caius._

_Dear Uncle Ghosty,_

_I know I’ve been neglecting you. Please don’t feel so left out! Here, I felt so terrible, I just had to get this for you when I saw it. A particular friend helped me pick it out, and it just fit so well. So please keep these words in mind on your bad days and remember, “Give it and take it cheerfully!”_

_xoxo,_

_Pixie_

 

A roar of anger rent the air, leaving behind a trembling guard in its wake as wary glances were exchanged among those present. Aro, in all his affable performance, raised both hands to the air in front of him and stepped closer to his currently snarling pale-headed brother; his brother, whom in turn, was all but salivating with venom from the anger that had risen so quickly and terribly in his chest. The gift that had been with the note lay in pieces, shredded beyond recognition, upon the floor before him.

 

 

“Dear Caius, be calm brother.”

 

“Do not tell me to be calm!” He roared, turning only to throw the throne across the room where upon contact with the wall it broke. The sound of the stone crumbling from the hit sent flinches through the guard, and Marcus, upon his throne, looked up and focused upon the situation at hand with a little more animation than usual. Aro sighed heavily, as if a large weight had suddenly dropped upon his shoulders, and looked mournfully towards the throne with a mutter of, “We just replaced it last week.”

 

“This must not continue! Demetri!”

 

The snarl that accompanied the shout through the citadel was ferocious but typical of their lord and master. Demetri himself was not there to answer the demanding call, having already been sent out earlier in the day by Aro. In this reasoning, it was Marcus who reminded his frothing brother.

 

“Demetri is departed.” He spoke, his monotonous tone of voice breaking through the sounds of violent anger. Caius paused only a moment to recognize this truth before continuing the rampage back and forth the audience chamber. Aro sighed once more, this time with a very obvious overstated pout, and spoke.

 

“We have tried Caius. This… impudent menace is elusive.” He tried reasoning, despite his own incense at the apparent oracle.

 

“It is not enough! They _mock_ us!” He roared.

 

“It is of no import.” Marcus stated. Both brothers turned to look at him, one with astonished incredulity and the other with thriving rage.

 

“No import?!” Caius snarled, “It is of the most import! They make a mockery of the Volturi! Of their Kings!”

 

“It matters little. We are absolute.” Marcus stated once more, uncaring and absolved of any guilt. He cared little either way, though it had been some time since he had felt anything other than a deepening melancholy. Whoever this ‘Pixie’ is actually brought some manner of feeling to him, and in that case Marcus could hardly begrudge them.

 

Aro pondered this for a moment, his hand tucked before his lips, as Caius went back to silently steaming in fury. As if a light bulb had gone off above his head, he brightened immediately and all but flounced over to his own chair.

 

“Perhaps we have been sending the wrong guard, my brothers? In the matter of way this ‘Pixie’ speaks in their letters, it is clear they are from America. Perhaps, we would have better luck sending my dear Jane?”

 

Caius actually paused, turning to look at Aro with an almost thoughtful expression carved into the rage of his eyes. He stared for minutes, while in turn Aro stared back with a growing giddy glee. Finally, he nodded slowly and a wicked curve tilted his lips up.

 

“Send Jane to America with Alec and Demetri. Start in the major cities. She will seek out _every_ unknown vampire to us and _thoroughly question_ them”

 

Aro was beside himself with delight. Marcus just sighed.

 

**Galice, Central Park, New York City, New York**

 “So, I may have miscalculated a… smidge.” I said meekly, staring down at my toes and I rocked back and forth on my heels.

 

“You set the Volturi on us.” Garrett deadpanned.

 

I attempted to give him an innocent smile. He didn’t buy it, if the look on his face was anything to go by. I sighed heavily and plopped down at the base of the tree, tilting my head back to look up at him with a small frown. It honestly had not _occurred_ to me that this would be the outcome of my pranks. I didn’t actually think the Volturi would waste their resources searching out _every_ vampire on the eastern coast of the USA. Apparently Caius is very determined, and I’d love to say they never find us, but the fact is that they _find us_.

 

“Weeeelll….” I hedged, “It’s not like I did it on purpose.”

He gave me the stink eye, belligerent in the belief that I’d called the devil on us. I… kind of had, in a way. _Shit. I have no idea how to get out of this one._ I thought, nearly panicked at the thought.

 

“We could ditch the redhead and go into hiding.” I chirped, and then quickly erased that from my thoughts because that’s probably why I had the vision of James biting Icky Vicki anyways. It probably _was_ based on the decision to flee and hide from the Volturi for a couple of decades. “On second thought,” I said with a frown, “let’s not and say we did.”

 

Garrett sighed and crossed his arms, “I can try calling in a favor.”

 

I shook my head quickly, “No, don’t get anyone else involved. It’d probably end worse.”

 

Wryly, he commented, “Well, at least we know that we _can_ bet against Alice.”

 

Giving him a mock affronted look, I placed my hand on my chest and leaned dramatically back against the tree trunk.

 

“How dare you! That hurts, right here.” I said.

 

He rolled his eyes and took a seat next to me before promptly picking me up and setting me in his lap. I simply shifted and curled into him, relaxing against him. Resting my head against his shoulders, I frown and tried to think through our options. First though…

 

“If anything we need to confront James.” I murmured quietly into his shoulder, “He’ll turn out to be a huge problem later down the line if he isn’t taken care of.”

 

“How do you even know of this vampire?” He questioned, sounding bewildered.

 

I shrug helplessly, uncertain of how to phrase my knowledge. I couldn’t just come out and say ‘I’m a dead girl walking.’ Well, I mean I could and it would make sense but it still wouldn’t really explain anything. I never even imagined the thought of telling _anyone_ the fact that I remember a past life and that this was a damned _book series_ in that life. Who would believe me anyways?

 

“I just… saw him.” I said, which, while true, wasn’t exactly accurate. I had seen James in my visions, but only after having looked for him. Still, lies are better told as truths in any case and I was getting _very good_ at those.

 

“How much time do we have then? You said you saw him changing her.”

 

At this question, I wasn’t really sure how to answer. I knew the time of day because of the setting of the sun through the window, mid afternoon for example, but I had no idea _which_ day, _how far_ into the future, or _what_ that meant for Garrett and I. Clearly we had not been around, at least in part. I’d found with my visions that even though some of them are very accurate in details, they still give me no leeway to the thoughts or intentions as to the ones starring in the vision. Reading body language can only go so far, after all, as vampires we really have no need of moving our body in ways humans instinctively do.

 

For humans, it’s easy to tell if they are nervous, scared, excited, or any manner of things just by looking at the way they hold themselves, how they move, where or what they are looking at, and what they say. For vampires it’s a little more… obscure. Sure, there is the crouch we automatically go into if feeling threatened or even the purring that, according to Garrett, we do when incredibly comfortable in our surroundings and situations. _Because apparently vampires are related to cats_. I mused, almost amused by the thought. _Cats are assholes. Vampires are assholes. Catpires._ I sniggered.

 

A pinch to my hip had me startled from my derailing thoughts and I shifted to look up at Garrett with an almost guilty look. _Oops_.

 

“What’s going through that evil little mind of yours lil’bit?” He smirked.

 

“Catpires.” I blurted out, unable to help myself.

 

Garrett looked confused for a second, then it seemed to dawn on him, and the next second he was roaring with laughter. I huffed, pouting only slightly, as I crossed my arms and leaned away from him.

 

“It’s a perfectly reasonable thought!” I cried.

 

“You were thinking about how we purr again weren’t you?” He questioned with too much amusement for my liking. I gave him a dirty glare and turned around, leaning back against him with a murmur of ‘Dick.’ He simply wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my head, some low chuckling still escaping him every now and then. We drifted back into silence as we pondered over our two very big, not okay, problems.

 

“Let’s set a trap.” I decided aloud. It was perfect.

 

“And how are we going to do that?”

 

“We get some perfectly placed bait.” I said, smirking and feeling pleased with myself.

 

Garrett sounded surprised and a little _concerned_ when he replied, “With Victoria?”

 

I bristled, stiffening in his hold and feeling my lip curl back into a silent snarl before I could stop myself. I loathed that redhead.

 

“Yes.” I insisted, “Victoria. Why?”

 

“She’s your friend?” He sounded conflicted, answering in an almost questioning tone.

 

I turned my head enough to shoot him a look of disbelief, “She’s human and _annoying_.”

 

He blinked, as if the thought had never crossed his mind, and I scowled at him. Have I mentioned that I loathe her? It had never really been a problem for Garrett before, to play with the humans or to lure them to their deaths, and although he certainly tended to stray towards the drudgery of society more often it didn’t mean that he didn’t eat the innocent either. We are _vampires_ , after all. So why this was different for him, I had no idea, and it honestly baffled me a little because Victoria was no one important and even Garrett has wanted to take a bite out of her a time or two.

 

“Alright.” He conceded, a little reluctantly. “I know where he is, but how are we going to lure her to him?”

 

“We lure _him_ to _her_.” I said.

 

He frowned and tightened his hold around me, placing his chin back on the top of my head and causing me to fall back against his chest in the process. I snuggled in closer and tapped my fingers against his forearms.

 

“How?”

 

At this question, I felt a slow smile spread across my lips and gripped his forearms tightly. A small hint of laughter escaped me and I couldn’t help but purr in delight.

 

“Me.” I stated, smug.

 

Garrett, on the other hand, growled and tightened his grip around me so tightly I nearly felt my skin cracking. Surprised at the protective embrace his loose hold had turned into, I tried to shift in order to look at him but he wouldn’t let me go.

 

“No.” He snapped, “Not happening Alice.”

 

I was left feeling a little bereft, and a little hurt. He never called me _Alice_. Confused at the turn the conversation had taken, I tried again to turn in his hold but all he did was growl and grip me even tighter. Finally, with frustration, I burst out with, “Garrett!”

 

He didn’t loosen his grip, but he did explain himself.

 

“I’m not putting you in danger Allie-cat. You said he’s a tracker, and bat-shit insane. You aren’t going anywhere near him by yourself.” He snapped out.

 

Startled, I went still.

 

“I…” I started, but trailed but having no idea how to even begin to explain my thoughts. Taking a deep breath, I slowly let it out and relaxed fully into his hold. His grip around me softened slightly, but he still continued to hold me tight.

 

“He knows me.” I said, in barely a whisper.

 

“What?” Garrett sounded shocked and guarded.

 

I bit my lower lip, wondering how much to explain, because even Garrett knew I didn’t remember anything from _my human life_ or at least _this human life_ but since he knew nothing about me being reborn, well…

 

“He knew me as a human.” I finished.

 

“How?” He questioned, sounding bewildered again.

 

At this, I shrug, “Can’t say.” I really couldn’t say, so it’s not like I was lying.

 

Silence passed and stretched on, and I quickly lost all track of time as we both went through scenarios and discarded one after the other. Every time Garrett made a decision that ended badly, I shook my head and he made another. None of them really worked. It took some time, but after however many hours I finally made a noise of excited agreement.

 

“That works!”

 

**7:30pm, Warehouse District, Downtown Brooklyn, New York City, New York**

 

“Alice, are you sure we are going the right way?” Victoria asked softly, her voice trembling with nerves.

 

I bobbed my head in a nod and glance around the dark streets quickly, trying to pinpoint exactly when I would need to run for it in time to leave a scent trail. Victoria stepped closer to me, her long fingers grasping tightly to my arm. I could smell the fear starting to roll off her in waves, leaving an odor stinging my nose with its strength. Venom pooled in my mouth, flames tickling my throat and I carefully swallowed without taking a breath.

 

Reaching over, I grasped her hand in my own and pulled her against my smaller form. It only took me a second to glance up at her and to recognize the stark fear and uncertainty that lay a striking expression in its wake. My lips curled into a please smile as I faced forward again, taking in the misty and dark streets and the towering warehouses on either side. Really, it was like the perfect set up for a horror movie. If this were the 21st century then it _would_ be.

 

I couldn’t help the slight bounce in my step as we walked along, Victoria trembling and clinging to me as if that would help her. Any minute now and she’d start being irritating and then, once we reached that one section of the street, I’d be able to make my move and finally, there would be peace.

 

“Please, why don’t we just turn around?”

 

I ignored her, for the most part, only giving a small hum to acknowledge she’d said anything. Obviously that wasn’t quite good enough for her, because in the next instant she was clutching me even tighter at the sound of a rat skittering in the alleyway we passed.

 

“I think we are going the wrong way. Let’s go back. Garrett has to be worried by now!”

 

I patted her absent-mindedly on the hand and craned my neck around to look down the opposite street. Not quite yet then. I could feel a sense of anticipation for finally ending this whole charade a long with a rising desire to just rip her throat out and be done with it. On one hand, the fact that Victoria really isn’t _that bad_ of a person nudges at my morality, the little I have left, but then on the other hand; well, I just hate her. I’m not very kind with the things I hate.

 

“Alice. Please. Alice, let’s go back.”

 

It made me wonder, in a distantly curious way, why I had such a sense of detachment to things such as killing, playing with my food, or even sending a sweet and naïve girl to her figurative death. Had I been this way in my past life? I honestly couldn’t remember. My past life is such a distant thing now, that I rarely ever thought of it except in cases of people I shouldn’t have knowledge of in this life. Memories, it seems, fade even as a vampire. At least, the memories of being human whether that ‘being human’ part is in this life or the last. I don’t even remember the faces of my family at this point and that… doesn’t bother me.

 

“Alice! We shouldn’t…. shouldn’t be down here!”

 

Maybe that makes me a terrible person on the inside, maybe I should feel guilt where I find none. Whatever the case, I don’t and I won’t and I refuse to linger on those thoughts. I pause suddenly, and glance to my left at a corner street light missing some of its glow. A smile crawls across my lips at the sight, and I let my gaze linger on the patch of poorly hidden ivy growth on a warehouse brick wall before turning to a terrified and struggling Victoria at my side.

 

“What are you doing? W-wh-why can’t I g-get o-o-out of y-your grip?!” She cried, half hysterical.

 

I watch, amused, as she continues to claw at my arm where I have hers trapped. Her hair had come out of its pins, laying in a crazy spiral about her face and her blouse had become disheveled the more she struggled. Tear tracked their way across her high cheekbones and past her pouty lips, her chin trembling with the effort to hold in her sobs. I cock my head slightly, catching sight of the pulsing vein in her neck and dearly wishing I could just _bite_.

 

“I don’t like you.” I sigh out, as if it’s a struggle to even speak to her.

 

She freezes like a deer caught in headlight and stares at me with fear and a little incomprehension. At least she wasn’t struggling anymore. Peering up at the sky for a quick second, I nod decisively and reach out towards her. It takes a half a second and suddenly I have my arms full of unconscious redhead. Hoisting her up and over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry, I take a brief moment to inwardly cackle over how ridiculous I must look right now half swallowed by a woman nearly a foot taller than myself before speeding off down the street and past the ivy hanging.

 

Entering the warehouse, I quickly settle her down in the middle of the large room and enter the door to the left beneath a crumbling steel runway. Immediately my senses are assaulted with the smell of herbs and flowers. I gag slightly and raise my sleeve up to my nose to try and block the scent. It was horrible how strong it was, but necessary. Garrett’s deep-throated chuckles interrupted my dilemma and I shot a scowl and a glare his way.

 

Minutes pass in amiable silence between us and I carefully move over to where Garrett was leaning against the only bare wall in the room. We strain our hearing, listening for what I know is coming and sure enough, minutes later the sound of hastening footsteps enter the warehouse.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“What does it look like? A free meal.”

 

“Odd, to see a human in a place like this.”

 

“Who cares? She’s mine.”

 

“Oh James, don’t claim her. At least share.”

 

“I don’t share! Get your own!”

 

At this sentence, Garrett and I exchange looks. Mine was rather pointed and he rolled his eyes dramatically but moved towards the door anyways. Sauntering out of the stinky room we’d both been hidden in, I could just imagine how he must be lifting his hands in a ‘Yes, Elvis has entered’ motion. Moron.

 

“Gentleman. No need to be so hasty.” Garrett said smoothly, and undercurrent of contrition coloring his tone.

 

“Who are you?” James snapped out. I could already hear the growl rumbling deep in his chest, and most likely, he’d already gone into a defensive crouch. Laurent didn’t seem to be part of the conversation as instead of saying anything I heard him shifting his weight, as if he were about to flee maybe.

 

“Oh, that’s neither here nor there,” was the pleasant response Garrett gave him. “Only, maybe you should think of waiting on taking that meal ticket.”

 

Silence abounded for a moment, and the only thing I could hear was James shifting his weight into a deeper crouch and Laurent suddenly beating a rapid retreat. Garrett’s chuckle followed and even though an aggressive snarl interrupted him, he didn’t lose the good humor of the situation. It wasn’t until I heard James leap that I found myself exiting the room and darting in front of Garrett with my own growl rumbling in my chest.

 

James halted immediately and I finally got a good, long look at the dickhead that tormented me in this life.

 

He was certainly tall, standing nearly an even 6’3, with broad shoulders under a worn and frayed black jacket. His dirty blonde hair was matted slightly and caked in dirt, twigs, and some blood pulled back into a low ponytail. Certainly, he wore no shoes and the ends of his trousers had seen better days compared to the torn edges and dirtied ends. If he were not a raving psychopath that would cause so many issues in the future he’d even be considered _handsome_ in a vaguely serial killer way. Jack the Ripper eat my heart out.

 

I could feel Garrett moving to my side from behind me as James straightened up from his crouch and crossed his arms, dark amusement starting to play upon his face. He studied me in turn and I wondered what he saw. Did he see a 4’10 petite little girl with shorn black hair and dark red eyes? Did he see that girl he’d seen in the asylum half dead with enforced insanity and delusion? What, if anything, did this vampire see? Obviously, he saw someone to torment.

 

“Alice? My little Alice? Is that you?” He sounded so very amused, his black eyes laughing as a daring and sinister grin stretched across his lips. He laughed, barely even taking a second to glance at Garrett who’d moved to stand next to me as a silent support. “My, my, my… my prey did escape.”

 

My eyes narrowed at him, unable or unwilling to rise to his bait. _What a douchebag_ , I thought sullenly.

“I loved our games you know. Oh but _he_ didn’t.” He finished darkly, starting to pace now but never taking his eyes off of me. I was somewhat surprised Garrett hadn’t said anything, but maybe he was curious too. “I had so many fantasies of tasting you. You smelled so very delicious and you screamed so prettily. Oh, but he didn’t like that at all.”

 

He chuckled, eyeballing me as he paused, “Confronted me the night I was to steal you from that place, said you were _safe_ now. It felt so very nice to rip him a part and bury the pieces. He’s probably still there.” He continued to pace then even as rage started to darken his features. I grimaced at the pictures he was painting, because obviously he was speaking of my unknown sire.

 

“He fancied himself in love with you. I loved you more, the blood in your veins. Remember the fun we had little girl? The shock treatments, the retraints, the scalpel leaving bloody rivulets in your skin…”

 

_It was dark and he was hovering. I felt cold. Pain in my arm, in my chest, in my hip and there was blood in my eyes. I whimpered as he chuckled above me, digging his nail into the skin of my collarbone. Why wasn’t anyone helping? No one would help silly Alice, you’re crazy remember? But I’m not! It really did happen! It really is happening? Is it? Who is he? I scream as his cold, cold, cold tongue laves across the blood on my cheek and on my arm. Get off! Get off! Get off!_

“You talked about it, of course, but who would believe crazy little Alice? You were so delicious, and I savored every bit of you…. But I shouldn’t have taken so long! He **stole you from me**!”

 

I didn’t understand. I was _remembering_ but it didn’t make sense! I wasn’t actually Alice… was I? I couldn’t be! I was… I was… I….

 

Distantly, I was aware of Garrett snarling and launching himself at James. The sound of snarls, growls, and clashing metal on metal like thunder in the sky was background noise to the sudden confusion and overwhelming horror that was swallowing me whole. It just didn’t make sense. I had just been dropped into this body when it died. I’d come to terms with that. How… how had I died? _Did_ I die? Confusion reigned supreme as I sunk to the floor, staring at nothing and everything in front of me.

 

I could remember with a clarity that didn’t make sense. I had been terrified for months because of James; he’d visited me at night, when the orderlies locked me away in isolation because of the danger I presented to myself. He sit on the edge of my bed, coo at me in a false gentleness and run his fingers through my shorn hair. It was after he’d work me up into a terrified stupor that he’d pick up the scalpel and make decisive slices in my skin. It was when he licked the blood from me that I’d scream. It was when he’d leave no place untouched that I’d piss myself.

 

In the mornings, the orderlies would come for me only to find me a catatonic mess. They never understood how I found something to hurt myself, or how I hurt myself while restrained to the bed. It was until the vampire found me that James stopped coming. I couldn’t remember his name or his face, but I remember that he’d been nice to me. More than that, he had _believed_ me and for a girl that had no belief in her whatsoever that was a godsend.

 

I opened and close my mouth wordlessly, my nose crinkling at the smell of burning sugar. Garrett wrapped himself around me; he was speaking, but I couldn’t hear him. Shuddering, I turned into him and clutched tightly at his sleeves.

 

“It just doesn’t make sense.”

 

Had I said that out loud? I had died in my past life. It was actually a past life and I… I had lived as Alice for 19 years before I’d been changed. The change really _had_ burned my memories from my brain. How did I remember something so completely different then? The certainty of what I was realizing was so overwhelming that I found myself heaving tearless sobs into Garrett’s shirt. Garrett. Garrett had been here. He was here. I had him but I….

 

It was then I realized how screwed I really was, because despite the trauma of remembering the very end of my very human life and the realization setting in that _yes_ , I had lived that there was only one thing I wanted. Something that at this point in time I couldn’t have, because it was so far out of my reach it would be like reaching for the moon.

 

I wanted Jasper.

 

 

 

 

 


	5. Irish Whiskey

It was difficult, realizing all these things but not being able to do a damn thing about it. For hours, Garrett had held me on that warehouse floor uncaring of the flames licking the edges of the rafters or the slowly awakening of Victoria from the floor. As I curled into that embrace, the only thing I could find on my mind boiled down to three, very important facts.

 

One: I _am_ Alice but I’m also _myself_ ; whoever that is remains a mystery.

 

Two: Garrett will _always_ be there for me when I need him.

 

Three: I had absolutely _no clue_ why I wanted Jasper when I didn’t even _know_ him.

 

Finding out that I lived a new life, as a human completely unaware of my past life, after that human life is over, is not exactly a casual walk in the park. I couldn’t even begin to explain the confusion, fear, uncertainty, and absolute longing this realization caused in me. I was confused, obviously, because things like this just didn’t happen and I’d accepted this fact hadn’t I? I knew all these things, so why was it such a shock? I was afraid because who wouldn’t be?

 

My life had been completely turned upside down. I couldn’t remember the name I’d had before, the way I’d died, who’d been my family, or even if I’d had friends but I still _longed_ for it. I wanted that life back but it was an impossibility that brought all this fear and confusion surging to the surface. Uncertainty had not really been a part of my new up until now. I’m damn good at interpreting my visions and seeking out new ones to benefit Garrett and myself, so the question remained: why did my future seem so muddled now?

 

Memories of my past life may be out of my grasp, but some things are still very clear. I may not remember friends, family, names or faces but I remember other things such as books, movies, plotlines and side stories of people and characters that have never been more real to me until now. If I was currently in that one book series as a rather important character, then what did that mean for all the other books and stories I remembered? Still, that was a thought that came and left quickly because who cared when my entire life had been screwed over.

 

I’d been considered crazy in my new life. I’d been thrown into an Asylum because I had visions of the future and my father had my mother murdered. I have a little sister named Cynthia. I was tortured, tormented, and driven into actual crazy town while in that Asylum. I’m forever 19 years old. My name is Mary Alice Brandon.

 

But who the hell am I?

 

I’m selfish, possessive, somewhat immoral , and very conscious of the fact that what I can do here very much effects lives of people in the future. I adore Garrett and he is my best friend, my brother in soul if not in blood, and I hate when he gives anyone but me attention. I have entirely too much fun sending the Volturi kings gifts and then watching the fallout through my visions. My actions have consequences, but I’m uncaring of those if I can avoid them. I often have visions of a vampire in torment, which for all I know is my “mate” whatever that actually means in this universe, and I want him but I don’t want him.

 

So then, does that make me Alice?

 

Alice was a bit manipulative, fashion obsessed, fairly friendly with a cheer that couldn’t be squelched, and had no compunctions about doing things her way. Nearly the only thing we had in common was the first and the last. In reality, I couldn’t even figure out why any of this was so important. Was being Alice really such a big deal in the scheme of things? This is my life now, so why wasn’t I taking control of it? Hadn’t I made a promise to myself when I’d woken up that I’d ‘mess shit up’? Where had that conviction gone?

 

As with most things in life, it’d quickly gone haywire and left me in the wind. I’d been so carefree about all of this and had been enjoying my new life until James came and wrecked it. But had he really?

 

I silently slipped from Garrett’s soothing embrace and stood, watching the dying purpled flames of the bonfire. James was now dead, and as it currently stood, I’m the only one in my own way. Frowning in a way that suggested deep thought, I looked over towards Victoria who, in the few hours I’d been in Garrett’s arm, hadn’t left when she’d woken and instead stayed curled in the corner of the warehouse shivering. The woman was terrified and I felt… no guilt. How had I become this person who looked at someone and decided that they were not important? I really _am_ immoral.

 

I could not dredge up an ounce of caring for her mental and emotional state as I stared. Instead, I felt hungry and irritated; a combination that left me floundering for a bit of control before I silenced her tiny sobs by ripping her throat out and feasting. I blinked and turned back to the fire, very much aware of Garrett’s silent present as he slipped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. His hold was snug and comforting, and as I turned to breathe in the scent of him, I distantly wondered why I couldn’t feel attraction towards this man. How was he not my other half?

 

So many questions with answers that were out of my reach; it was a bit frustrating. A heavy sigh escaped me and I looked up at him, his returned gaze was cautious, concerned, and curious. I pursed my lips with narrowing eyes and glanced at the smoke gathering at the top of the room with nowhere to go.

 

“We need to leave. We’ve been here too long.” I murmured quietly.

 

“Just waiting on you, doll.” Garrett said with barely hidden worry. I ignored his worry and swallowed, trying to get rid of the venom that had gathered as soon as I’d opened my mouth. I was hungry after that emotional rollercoaster and all I wanted was to feed but it was more important to get out of here before the humans noticed something was off. Hesitation stalled me and I glanced once more over at Victoria. In truth, the entire reason for tracking down James and killing him was to keep her human and alive so she wouldn’t cause so many damn problems in the future. On the other hand, well, I was hungry.

 

Decision made, it took me seconds to reach her and pull her from her cowering on the floor. She screamed hysterically, beating her fists at any place on me she could possibly reach as I pulled her close and tilted her head just so. I ignored Garrett as he called out my name with hesitancy and sunk my teeth into her throat. The rush of blood filling my mouth was like tasting nirvana and it was all I could do to stop from digging deeper in order to get the blood to come faster. I savored the warmth as I swallowed mouthful after mouthful like a fat kid enjoys chocolate cake.

 

As she started to fall limp, her struggles lessened and I gentled my grasp on her arms until I found myself kneeling with her body draped across my lap. Releasing her neck with a gasp, I dropped her the rest of the way to the ground with a tenderness I hadn’t expected to develop for her. I stared down at her corpse for a few minutes, aware of Garrett standing not but five feet away, and studied her face. It was a bit disappointing, now that I wasn’t hungry and desperate; to see that I’d killed her. Despite having hated her, she had still been a… friend in a way and if my conscious wasn’t so completely cracked then I know I’d be feeling incredibly sad.

 

All I felt though was a slight bit of responsibility and satisfaction of the kill.

 

 _I really am a vampire, aren’t I?_ I thought with a bit of awareness suddenly shining it’s light right into my eyeballs. Of course I’ve known what I am since I woke up like this, but I guess it’d had always been a somewhat distant thing to me. Perhaps it’s how a person could be a certain culture or skin color and then they are suddenly surrounded by those different to them. It’s a little shocking and brings attention to all those details you never paid attention to before.

 

I chewed on my lower lip in indecision as I stared at her, tasting the blood on my lips and swiping it away with my tongue.  With a heavy sigh, I stand and turn to look at Garrett. He arched a brow at me in question, his arms crossed and seemingly waiting for me to come back to myself. Sheepishly, I rub the back of my neck.

 

“We should bury her. I owe her that at least.” I said, looking down.

 

“You owed her a lot more than that, lil’bit.” He murmured quietly, sounding almost… disappointed. It was a blow to the chest to realize that he disapproved of what I’d just done but I should have figured he would. It’s Garrett and regardless of how he acts and how he treats humans, when it came down to it, he had a lot more compassion for human life than I did. My moral ambiguity aside, I should have consulted him first because he _had_ been Victoria’s friend.

 

Feeling disheartened and _guilty_ now, I crouched down and swept her into my arms without any further comment. I considered, for a moment, how we’d go about this. Should I contact her father, drop her somewhere that her body could be identified, or just find a spot to bury her with a self-made headstone? She deserved, at the very least, acknowledgement that her life had meant something. I’d used her as a pawn, as bait, and I’d not cared whether she had lived or died.

 

No, I didn’t owe _her_. I owed _Garrett_.

 

“Alright.” I said, “Let’s go.”

 

 

\------

 

**Upstate New York**

For vampires, time is a funny thing. It exists as we do, frozen and swift all at once. Humanity, on the other hand, exists solely within the limits that time sets for them. A day goes by, then two, and suddenly two weeks have passed and for humanity those two weeks may feel like an eternity to them. It brings me back to the here and now, thinking of this, because in a few hours at sunrise the body I’d dropped off near the police station will be found. A man will have lost his daughter, a city one of it’s vibrant young socialites, and still humanity will move on. Time will eat away at her memory, fading until the only thing that really exists is how she appeared in _ours_.

 

Her father will never forget her, but the memory of her will fade in his mind until one day, on his death bed, he will look up and see gentle blue eyes and a head full of wild red curls welcoming him with open arms. In a week or two, the police will have decided that her murder was something of an accident between gangs and rule her as just another casualty. So yes, time is a funny thing because for humanity it drags them along and passes them by all at once. For us, it’s different.

 

I’ll always remember her; the red of her hair, the wild curls, the startled blue eyes, but most of all I will remember the taste of her blood. That, of all the things I remember, brings so much shame that I’m not sure time will ever erase it. We all but exist outside of time, watching the world wave at us as it passes us by in an agonizing crawl. As I stand here, watching the stars rise ever higher in the sky and the sliver of the moon crawling upwards I can’t help but wonder when I’d become so freaking philosophical.

 

Garrett breaks me from my thoughts with a quiet, but firm ‘Alice’ and I can’t help the fully body flinch. I always know when he is disappointed or angry with me, because those are the only times he ever uses my name. I bow my head, my bangs shading my eyes from his view, and stare down at my still toes. What could I possibly say that would make up for what I’d done? Even still, as I felt shame upon killing her, it was more for how it affected Garrett than for feeling regret in my actions. If I regret at all, then it is for disappointing him. I never knew I’d sought his approval in my actions so strongly, until tonight. It’s a fierce blow to my pride.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

It was the only thing I could really offer, because what defense did I really have? I hated her? I was jealous? I wanted her gone? She served her purpose? I was hungry? All flimsy, hollow excuses and although valid, for a vampire, they fell short in reason.

 

“What were you thinking?” He snapped out, sounding as if he were fed up with it all; he probably was.

 

I sighed heavily, “I…. What do you want me to say Garrett?”

 

“I just want you to be honest with me.”

 

“Honest…” I echoed hollowly. “I… I hated her.” Frowning, I lifted my head to look at him and seeing the slight doubt on his face caused me to scowl. I couldn’t help but look away then, the shame feeling like it was choking me the longer I looked at him. Damn Garrett to hell for this.

 

“Look.” I started, feeling weary. “I didn’t want to hate her and I _tried_ to befriend her, I did, but I just… you know me Garrett!” I burst out suddenly, whipping my head to look at him with a glare. “I play games! I don’t… I can’t help myself sometimes… If I thought for one _second_ that you’d react this way then I’d…”

 

He cut me off quickly, a wry smile playing at his lips, “You still would have eaten her.”

 

I paused, uncertain now of how to continue because…. _Dammit it to hell._ _Why does he always do this?_ I thought, irritated beyond belief at his sudden turnaround. Eyeballing him, I shifted my weight and wrapped my arms around myself in a need to feel some sort of comfort.

 

“I… yes.” I finished quietly.

 

He tilted his head, studying me beneath his dark fringe of messy hair, and crossed his arms. I could all but see the thoughts turning behind his eyes, and it took only a second for him to decide what to say, but I was already leaping at him with a shriek of joy.

 

“Thank you!” I cried, my arms wrapping around his neck even as he caught me with an exaggerated ‘Mmph’ and held me to him. His laughter enveloped me, and if it held a bit of bitterness and frustration hidden within it, well, I am a master of ignoring those types of things. I snuggled close and allowed my legs to slip around his waist as well, just glad for the fact that he forgave me for my failings. This… this had the potential to be disastrous. I was just immensely relieved that Garrett liked me far more than he had liked her.

 

No, that isn’t right. I was just glad he liked me more than his morals allowed for. Garrett is a killer, just as I am, but once he makes a friend it’s hard to shake that loyalty. It meant that for him to forgive me so very easily he tossed that loyalty towards his newest friend to the wayside.

 

“You didn’t even let me say it this time Allie-cat.” He said through his chuckling.

I just shook my head and nuzzled in closer to him. His arms shifted, moving down to my waist where he promptly pulled me off of him and set me to my feet. Pouting, I glared, crossing my arms with a bit of defiance. His own rolling eyes told me that he wasn’t in the mood for my shit and I sighed again, heavily. I dropped my arms and silently turned away for a moment.

 

“I know you don’t want to hear this… but you did wrong by her and by me.”

 

His smooth tenor rolled over me with a strength that nearly bowled me over. I flinched and lowered my head, “I know. I shouldn’t have… I don’t have a reason you’d accept Garrett.”

 

When I chanced a glance back at him, he shrugged and looked up at the darkened sky with a nonchalant attitude. It was a false attitude, fabricated for my own benefit rather than his own. Knowing Garrett, he just didn’t want to throw a wrench into our relationship; at least, not anymore than I had today. Chewing on my bottom lip for a moment, I looked towards the small pond we were standing near, watching the reflection of the moon and the stars.

 

“I was a little freaked out…” I admitted, reluctantly.

 

Garrett barked out a laugh, his arm coming around my shoulders, “A little?”

 

I grimaced, “Okay, a lot. I didn’t really… know who James was to me, not really. The things he said…” I trailed off, unsure of just what I wanted to say.

 

Garrett’s arm tightened around me for a moment before he let go and faced me, hands on my shoulders. I looked up at him to see his intense stare focused completely on me, and when he noticed he smirked and squeezed my shoulders.

 

“Look lil’bit, that dick didn’t know you and whatever happened when you were human… you’re stronger now. You don’t need those memories, or him, because you know what?” I tilted my head to the side, curious as to where this was going and responded with a quiet, “What?”

 

He pulled me closer and murmured quietly, “You have me. You know?”

 

I breathed out a slight laugh and hugged him back, “Yea, we’re besties.”

 

At this, he pushed me away with a flabbergasted look on his face that sent me into a fit of giggles. He shook his head slowly, “What the hell are besties?”

 

Sometimes I forget it’s the 1920’s. Seriously, it’s only thanks to me that Garrett even understands half of the things I say. Slang of the 21st century tends to confuse pretty much everyone in this day and age, which given how much I end up talking in human company, means it’s not so surprising that the looks we get are a mix of incredulous and confused. Even still, the word ‘besties’ coming out of Garrett’s mouth in that accent of his… it’s something I’ll never forget, mostly because it sounds absolutely hilarious.

 

I shook my head at the question, declining to answer and instead steered the conversation in a direction that it needed to go. I didn’t necessarily want to talk about this, but it needed to be done and the sooner the better. Pushing away from him, I took a few steps back for breathing room before allowing myself to talk.

 

“James and my past aside, we need to figure out what to do next now that he’s taken care of. The Volturi are looking for us, Gare.” I said quietly.

 

“You mean they are looking for _you_ , you little devil.” He responded, sounding vaguely irritated at the whole situation.

 

Sheepishly, I couldn’t help but glance down and rock back and forth on my toes like a little girl caught playing with her mother’s makeup. I could hear him sigh and then the next thing I know I’m laying on my back with wide eyes and staring up at the sky from the ground. He’d _pushed_ me.

 

I have never sat up so fast in my life, a fierce glare on my face aimed straight at him and a curse on my tongue. I didn’t have a chance to say anything though, for in the next instance he’d flopped belly first right on top of me. Crying out, I found myself flattened to the ground with Garrett laying on top of me and chuckling as if it were the funniest thing in the world. He never _could_ stay serious for long could he? Well, neither could I, but that’s besides the point.

 

Shoving him with a grunt, I shot him a disgruntled look as he settled beside me and laid back against the tall grass.

 

“You are such a child.” I muttered petulantly.

 

“Pot, kettle.” He said cheerfully, folding his arms behind his back and all but ignoring the glare I sent his way.

 

Huffing, I turned on my side to look at him and just… stared for a few minutes. _Ladies and Gents, my best friend._ _My… brother._ I smiled at my thoughts, feeling suddenly so appreciated it almost sent me into shock. Being a vampire is _hard_ , let me tell you, because the feelings involved are just… well, let me explain it this way. You are caught in the eye of a hurricane until suddenly you are swept up into the skies with flying debris hitting you in every direction and then promptly tossed onto your ass outside of it. That’s how dealing with emotions as a vampire is like and it’s _exhausting_. Garrett offering a crumb of an idea suddenly threw me from my thoughts.

 

“I think we should leave America.”

 

I rolled that around in my head for a second, turning onto my back again and assuming the same pose as Garrett with my hands crossed behind my head. Finding myself agreeing with the statement, I responded with a quiet “Probably.”

 

“What? No smart comment? No, ‘I didn’t see that!’?” He shot at me sarcastically.

 

I gave him a dirty look in return and didn’t respond. I didn’t really have a better idea, to be honest.

 

“It is a little ridiculous that they are sending out the entourage just to look for you. Isn’t that like searching for a needle in a haystack? That’s the saying right?” Garrett mused aloud, sounding amused. I shrugged but he had a point. The idea that the Volturi would extend such resources just to look for a rogue vampire playing games with them was a little… farfetched in thought. Considering it’s Aro and Caius, the two most drama queens alive; well, maybe the idea wasn’t so far out there.

 

“Maybe not.” I considered, “Aro was the one that put the idea forward, and he’s a little insane. Caius just doesn’t think things through his rage, it’s kind of all consuming if you think about it. And Marcus just doesn’t care.”

 

Silence grew between us after that comment and it would have broken if it weren’t for my hand suddenly shooting out to smack against Garrett’s big mouth to quiet him. I was distantly aware of him sitting up and turning towards me, removing my hand from his mouth in the process but mostly I was lost in another time and place.

 

_It was night time, perhaps around 5:30 pm and just after dark. The street lights shown down upon the roughened pavement, the glow giving the older neighborhood an eerie appearance despite its rather quaint façade. Three figures dressed in charcoal cloaks were walking towards an older town home, set nearly at the end of the street underneath a wide oak. The smallest figure, the one in the forefront of the group, stepped closest to the door and raised a dainty fist to knock. The door swung open before the fist ever touched the red wood and a pale figure with blond hair and well put together appearance stood there._

_“Jane.” He sounded surprised, “What a pleasant surprise. May I help you with something? I’m afraid I never received word from Aro that you were coming.”_

_The small figure lowered the hood, the pale brown hair upon her head held back in an almost severe looking bun, while her face gave her a look of a porcelain doll. It was a contradiction, much like the one it belonged to. She made no other movement besides sweeping her hand out to the side towards the only on of the three that reached 6’. Another hood lowered, this time showing a pale man of tall and lithe stature with a head full of black hair and red eyes. The last figure stayed still and silent, making no move to expose themselves and only stepped slightly closer to the small girl as if trying to shield her from the rest of the silent neighborhood._

_“Demetri.” The pale figure in the doorway said again, just as surprised at seeing the man as he had been at seeing the girl; his head turned back and forth for a second before he seemed to settle upon Jane as the main conversationalist. “Please, would you like to come in?”_

_“We are not here for pleasantries Cullen.” Jane said and if anyone besides the four on the porch were to hear her, they’d think angels had come calling, so soft and melodious her voice was. Not as childlike as her appearance suggested, certainly, and only if you listened closely would one notice the undercurrent of menace present._

_“Of course, forgive me.” ‘Cullen’ said, bowing his head in acquiescence._

_Demetri, the figure on the left, allowed his eyes to slip past Carlisle Cullen in the doorway and to the newborn standing only a few feet behind him. The boy had to be newly turned, if the way he stood and the wary look in his eyes was any indication. Maybe only a year or two at the oldest, Demetri mused. As he studied him, vaguely conscious of Jane requesting Carlisle’s full compliance with their demands, he noted the tousled bronze hair and the adolescent appearance. Carlisle liked them young it seemed, and yet the boy carried a guarded and almost defiant bearing as if he disagreed with everything that didn’t include him._

_The boy was watching Jane and Carlisle with an intense expression, his brow appearing furrowed and his eyes narrowed into a look of concentration, as if he were trying to read their minds before their mouths threw out the words. It was only a slight surprise then, that the boy immediately looked to Demetri at that thought. He couldn’t help the slow curl of amusement on his lips, allowing his eyes to slowly trail down and then up the boy. He was certainly no fighter, and honestly looked as if he belonged in a boyhood brawl than anywhere else. Demetri could take him._

 

 

“So? What’s the verdict?” Garrett piped up as soon as he noticed the glaze in my eyes clearing. We’d found that during visions I sort of got this blank look on my face and my eyes almost glazed over, like I was either very bored or falling asleep. He always found it funny because of that, especially whenever it happened in human company. It’s a little hard to hide when you are among creatures that don’t even know the definition of clairvoyance much less what happens when someone has a vision.

 

I let out a puff of breath, my mind circling back through the vision and studying not only the sight of the moon and its distance in the sky, but the architecture of the buildings, the placement of the lights and the street, and the words on the signs. I needed to figure out where they were, so that we could go in the opposite direction. Strangely enough, the vision had centered mostly on Demetri instead of on Jane and Carlisle, which meant that the conversation between the two was fairly muffled. If that were not strange enough, the fact that I had a vision with the Cullens in it at all, when I’d been _avoiding_ them, was a little off putting.

 

“Well… Jane’s landed in Conneticut. I say we book it across seas.” I said with a sigh.

 

Garrett seemed to be on board with this and nodded, “Can we go to Ireland? It’s my turn to pick our vacation!”

 

Blinking in surprise, I looked at him with amusement. “Why Ireland?”

 

“I hear their Whiskey is to die for.” He responded, grinning like that cat that got the canary. I stared with only a slight amount of disbelief because _of course_ that just came out of his mouth.

 

“You realize we can’t actually drink alcohol or… consume anything besides blood, right?” I questioned.

 

Garrett scoffed, “Well duh, but I’ve always wanted to try it. Besides Irish is a bit of delicacy isn’t it?

 

I blinked again, “That’s the French.”

 

He waggled his eyebrows at me and smirked, “Same difference.”

 

 _People, my soul brother_.

 

**Jane, Demetri, Alec**

“Can’t we stop for just a few minutes Janey?” Demetri questioned.

 

“Don’t call me that.” Jane snapped, irritated with all the questions. This mission was ridiculous enough without Demetri complaining about everything every five minutes. Why her master had decided this was a good idea was anyone’s guess, but the sooner they sussed out the irritant then the faster they’d be back in Volterra and the faster Jane could take out her frustration in a…healthy manner. It wouldn’t do to drive Demetri insane with pain, her Master still needed him, unfortunately.

 

“It’s only a small break Jane. We’ve seen four covens already and we _just_ left Carlisle’s coven.” He responded with frustration.

 

Jane said nothing to that and just sped up her pace. She held out only a little hope that they’d get to the fifth coven, the only Cullen had pointed them to, before sunrise. At the rate they were going, Demetri would be the cause of their delay. He just would not _shut up_.

 

“Alec. Tell you sister to let us feed.” Demetri said, turning to the so far silent third vampire of the entourage. The vampire in question was only slightly taller than Jane, with dark brown hair and a stiff posture. He turned his head towards Demetri at the demand, but did nothing more than raise an eyebrow and tilt his head as if he couldn’t figure him out. Demetri sighed with aggravation.

 

“Janey.” Demetri demanded of the little blonde in front. He went ignored. This didn’t deter Demetri any, because he had Felix as a best friend and if anyone had learned how to be an annoyance that got their way, then it’s Felix. Demetri was just lucky enough to learn from him. “Janey.”

 

Jane snarled and sped up her pace even more, causing Demetri to quickly follow. Alec, on the other hand, just sighed as if he’d just been party to something incredibly stupid and had no idea how to stop the upcoming train wreck. As he watched Demetri chase after his sister, he figured that at least this trip wouldn’t be _boring._ Demetri went down with a howl, twitching and writhing as Jane stood over him with a fierce snarl and a smug countanance.

 

_No, not boring at all._

**Meanwhile, In Ireland**

“I knew it would be a success!”

 

“I can’t believe you just did that!”

 

“Ha! Try it Allie-cat! It’s amazing!”

 

“How’d you even get the blood in the _bottle_?!”

 

“It’s called _talent_ , you wouldn’t understand. Try it! It’s _Irish Whiskey_ , get it?”

 

“I can’t believe you mixed an irish man with irish whiskey.”

 

“You said that already. Come on! It’s a delicacy!”

 

“That’s the French!”


	6. Truth Hurts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I told people on ff.net but I'll reiterate here. I have no idea when I'l be able to update this again, it will most likely be at the very _least_ two weeks. My life has gotten considerably busy and complicated recently, so I just don't have the time.
> 
> In other news, this chapter is mostly delving into my characters psyches and playing around with two new P.O.V's. I'm terrible with trying to switch from P.O.V to P.O.V so this is good practice.
> 
> Criticism is appreciated, as is kudos. 
> 
> Enjoy.

She had always been curious by nature, even within her human life, so when she had heard about the body the human's had found that had not only been drained of blood but had been surrounded by whiskey; well, she could not help but to seek out the truth of the matter. Siobhan, of course, had not been happy with her decision and Liam even less so, but Maggie had never been one to sit back and watch things happen. She'd always preferred to be right in the thick of it.

It had been a point of contention between her and Liam for years.

Finding where the human had died wasn't difficult, if one knew how to look for the signs. She had been around for decades already and it had been a past time of hers to pay attention, and as true to her gift as could be, to seek out the truth. By no means was she a tracker, that had never been in her skill set, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to follow the trail left behind.

She crouched next to the dumpster behind the old pub. It was in a lesser-known district of Dublin, set closest to what the humans called the "Basin" for how much mud it held. She couldn't tell who had killed the human, of course, and the garda had already cleaned away the scene so neither were there the infamous whiskey bottles lying around. Rumour had gone around that whoever had killed the man, a man who'd been spending a night off in the pub this alley led to, had drained him of his blood and filled the half empty whiskey bottles with them. It had been an extremely messy job.

Maggie wasn't a genius or anything, but even she could see that this would be an unusual crime for a human. For a vampire, however, especially with how eccentric her kind tend to be; it wasn't far of a stretch to imagine one of her kind had gotten bored. Maybe they had done it for sport, or maybe they had done it out of curiosity, it could even be that they just truly wanted to try blood and whiskey. She was doubtful of the last, because all vampires knew that as vampires their kind could not consume anything other than blood.

The vampire body just didn't digest. There was nothing going on within the body to process all of the different materials that went into food, or alcohol, or even water. No, even that wasn't true, she supposed. It was more that the body was crystallized at the point of the highest burning, like how sand is turned into glass. Instead of glass, the vampire body is preserved more in a sheet of marble.

This was all speculation on her part, and she had never been a scholar. Either way, she supposed it did not matter. She studied the area around her feet, noting the specks of blood that the garda had been unable to remove and then the placement of the drops of whiskey that still lingered.

What a funny crime it had been, and she couldn't help the small burst of amusement that filled her at the thought of a vampire struggling to put human blood in a bottle. No wonder there had been so many of them, if the papers were anything to go by with the truth then there had been a total count of 32 whiskey bottles covered in blood.

She was surprised one human had that much blood to fill that many bottles.

Still, it was up to her to seek out whoever had done this and either make them leave or remove their head. She, at least, didn't want to draw the attention of the Volturi with such unusual crimes. If it were up to Liam, then they would all just ignore this but it just wasn't in Maggie to ignore something so ridiculous that had the potential to escalate. This may not seem like much in the long run, but she had always been good at searching out the bigger problems from the smaller facts.

After a moment of careful scrying of the ground, she stood and brushed off her pants in a very human gesture she'd picked up only a few years ago. She took a moment to look around the alley one more time, just case she had missed anything, then decided it was probably a good idea to try and follow the scent left behind. Either the vampire that did this had no expectations of anyone following their trail, or they were overly confident that even if someone did follow it then they would be able to handle it. She would place her bets on the first one, to be honest, because the likelihood of anyone that would commit this sort of ridiculous crime not being a little wonky in the head was nil.

Those were the types that usually brought Volturi trouble down on everyone's head.

Maggie was in no mood for that, so with a leap she took off to the rooftops and very carefully pulled in the scent from not only the blood left in the alley but the lingering venom drops. She was dealing with a drooler, because unless this vampire was attacked miraculously silently – she doubted – then he or she was drooling over the mess down below. How else could she have picked up the venom scent?

Every vampire had a particular smell, whether that smell was bad or good, didn't so much depend on the vampire's character but on the way their venom tracked its way through their body. For example, she knew for a fact that one of the Volturi vampire's she'd met years ago smelled absolutely divine; she is pretty sure his name is Dimitri or something. On the other hand, one of the vampires from a coven that Siobhan is friendly with – a Carlisle something or other – smelled stale and almost bitter. Then again, it not only depended on a particular vampire's smell, but on the vampire doing the smelling. She figured it was all biological in some way, shape, or form and she'd never been good at that sort of thing.

Taking her time, she crossed rooftops and ducked down into alleyways, tracing the faint scent leftover from the murder three days ago. It wasn't easy, certainly, but she had gotten better at this tracking thing over the years. Mostly it just took a little patience, which she'd always been good at, but sometimes the scent just abruptly stopped. Not that it actually did, but more that she lost it all of the sudden and couldn't pick it up again.

She stopped in front of a small, rundown teashop five blocks over from the pub and closer to North Dublin. Breathing in carefully through her nose, she peered into the window to see only three humans and no vampire. Possibly the vampire had moved on by now, possibly he or she was still in there and just hidden very well, but then again possibly she'd just lost the scent. She paced outside the little shop scenting the air every few steps only to pause and twist on her heel in the other direction. Nothing, she couldn't find any other trail.

Frowning, she looked up at the dark clouds to see she still had plenty of time left then down the street towards the busier sections of Dublin. Nodding to herself, she quickly walked in the direction of the crowded buildings and with the scent still a fresh memory in her mind, continued with trying to pick it up again. It wasn't easy, what with all the humans strolling around, but thankfully they just muddled things a bit. She hadn't felt an overwhelming need for human blood in a long time, and she stopped being tempted out of nowhere unless starving nearly two decades ago now.

Oh she still felt the thirst, but only when she was actually thirsty.

She stopped in front of a café milling with tourists and Dublin natives, turning in a slow circle to let her eyes try and catch any detail out of the ordinary. She found nothing and with a frustrated hiss of air between her clenched teeth, just barely managing to stop herself from stomping her foot in childish irritation, spun on her heel and hurried back to Siobhan and Liam. They would at least need to be aware of what little she  _had_  found.

**Alice**

I watched as the petite redhead left the scene, so very grateful that I'd sent Garrett on a wild goose chase in the other direction. I had to admit it hadn't been something I'd expected, seeing her track him down and then the fallout thereafter. It was a bit of a surprise, especially since I'd been laughing myself silly over Garrett and his attempt to drink blood and whiskey. It had been a disaster, but a surprisingly successful one. Who knew that vampires could consume alcohol if it's mixed with the right amount of blood? Pfft, you learn something new everyday.

Grinning at the memory, I shake my head and lean back from peering over the rooftop of a nearby building. She wouldn't be back for a while, at the very least, and to be honest I wasn't sure if we'd ever actually see her again. I'd seen nothing in my vision to indicate that, once I'd decided to avoid her. I didn't even know the girls name for that matter.

I sighed with only a little disappointment, because I actually kind of like her. She's spunky. I knew if we could meet we'd be great friends, but there was no way in hell I was letting her near Garrett. Not if I could help it anyways, and considering that I can see the fucking future. Well, there's not winning for her. Humming slightly, I glanced to my left in the direction Garrett had run off in not but 10 minutes earlier, covered head to toe in steaming hot coffee, and then laughed quietly. That  _had_ been funny, mostly because he hadn't expected me to toss it on him out of the blue like that.

He'd screeched like a little girl, and it was the first time I'd ever heard his voice reach that high of a pitch. Snickering at the image stuck in my head, I folded my legs beneath me and got comfortable for the long wait. I had no idea when he'd be back, but hopefully it'd be just in time for her scent to be completely faded; or at least faded enough that he wouldn't catch it. There was a good chance of that, what with the wind being like it is. I chewed on my lower lip with only a slight amount of guilt curling in my stomach, then shrugged because what did I really have to be guilty over anyways?

My arms reached up to the sky, my fingers spreading, and stretched. I sighed then and rested my elbows on my knees and placed my chin in my hand. It was….It hit me out of nowhere, derailing my train of thought immediately and causing my whole body to go rigid.

_He was drowning in a sea of blood. Everywhere he looked it was chaos, and terror, and horror as if what was happening couldn't decide on just one thing or another. There were snarls, growls, yells, and screams from men and women and the restless beasts he'd trained alike. It was in the very air, on the ground, and covering every surface in front of his eyes. Sometimes, in his more lucid moments, he'd wonder what would happen if he were part of that blood. A victim, instead of a monster, that'd be just as sooner torn apart than to be doing the tearing._

_A swipe of tongue over his lip brought the raw taste of venom and overwhelmingly delicious blood, a mix that'd become more and more common in his life. A slight tilt of his head caused his dripping bangs to fall in his eyes, only slightly obscuring his view of what he was overseeing. He was overseeing it, not stopping it nor directing it, but just watching to make sure everything was going to plan._

_The carnage was unending, which meant everything certainly **was**  going to plan._

_In a vague, detached part of him that had last risen it's head decades ago, he was screaming and pleading for all of it to stop. In the moment, here and now, he could only let a smile curl his lips and take another swipe of the blood on his mouth. If he gave into that hidden desperation, that pliant willfulness that sometimes tried to sweep him up, then he'd break apart._

_Shatter._

_Into a million, tiny, cracked pieces until there was nothing left to force back together; or perhaps, what was left that was to be forced was so damaged that what came back from it was something undeniably different. Monstrous; but that was it, wasn't it? He twisted his body slightly, only enough to be out of the way of a flailing limb and a pleading scream, and went back to watching the desolation of the small, Mexico town._

_Something, a part or a monster or a beast, rose in him at the sight and nearly purred. It was pleased, and somewhat sated, and all he could do was release a silent breath of air. He yearned, and wanted, and relished, and all of these things even as he tried, and tried, and tried. Nothing worked._

_He missed Peter._

_Wise words of wisdom from his only companion, friend, brother, progeny, or something would tell him that this was no place for him. He was too good, too fraught with injustice, too much or more or less. That was the thing though, about Peter, he always believed that only the demon belonged with the demons. He'd always disagreed with Peter, secretly, silently; because didn't it boil down to that one thing?_

_Jasper is, and has been, and always will be a **demon**. _

I didn't realize I was hysterical until Garrett slapped me. I shook, my breath rattling in my chest and my fingers clenched so tightly into fists that I could feel the cracks I'd placed in my own palms. Garrett reached out to me, curling me into his arms and running his fingers through my hair. I could hear his low voice murmuring a 'Shh, Allie. It's okay.' through my shaken sobbing.

_What the fuck?_ It was the only thought going through my head, because that had come out of nowhere and I had the sinking feeling that it was happening  _now_. It wasn't so much that I was crying because I felt  _bad_  for him, but more that there had been so many emotions twisted into that vision that it all spilled over. The only thing I could do was to cry, and the fact that it had caused me to become somewhat hysterical about it all was a little daunting. I could feel my eyes welling, the pressure from my venom tears wanting to spill over but unable to causing an unbearable uncomfortable feeling behind my closed lids.

What did all this even mean? Garrett and I had been in Ireland for less than a month after the New York fiasco and in that time I'd not had one single vision of Jasper or Maria. In fact, the last vision I'd have of him at all had been before Victoria had been killed. My focus had been on James, which meant that I'd all but blocked anything else besides him and the Volturi. At this point, the only thing I'd really been watching for was threats to Garrett and myself which had put that little redhead on my radar. Admittedly, she wasn't so much as a  _physical_  threat as an emotional one, but the point still stood.

I pulled away from him with a heavy breath, shaking my head and rubbing my sore eyes with the back of my hand. My other hand clenched tightly in his vest as I tried desperately to steady myself and get all these damn emotions under control. It was just another point against finding Jasper, because all of this just had to be a reaction to his own gift of empathy.

Irritated with my random visions that I  _should_  have control over by now and myself, I finally released Garrett and stood to my feet. He followed with a wary look and his hands hovering by my sides, as if he was just waiting to reach out and catch me if I collapsed again. I shot him a disgruntled look and quickly went about smoothing down my wild locks of black hair and the disheveled blouse I was wearing, unable to even look at him at this point.

"What did you see?" I heard him ask, concern coating his voice.

I released another breath of air, my shoulders sagging. "Nothing really, just… something powerful."

I didn't really know how to explain it, because not once had I approached the topic of my Jasper Visions. I mean, don't get me wrong, Garrett knew I had visions of a vampire since I awoke but he didn't know who, or where he was, or why. Not that I knew why, for that matter, but it was still one of the few things I kept from him. Mostly because I didn't even want to think about the topic, much less  _speak_  about it.

I groaned and leaned my head back, my hands flying to my hair to grip the strands and tug. It was one thing to have these visions but it was another to have them and then have to actually talk about them.

"So I may or may not have visions of a Major in a newborn army." I said sheepishly, lowering my hands to my sides and looking at him from under my lashes.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise though he didn't look as shocked as I expected, mostly he just looked as if I'd said gibberish.

"And what, it sends you into hysterics? Allie-cat, I've seen you blank out with your visions before but this is different." He was right, of course, but I was reluctant to tell him everything.

I wavered only for a second before throwing my hands into the air dramatically, "Okay, so he may or may not be my mate….?"

Obviously he heard the questioning tone I'd used because he snickered suddenly and clapped his hand onto my shoulder, nearly sending my into him with how hard he'd done it. I shoved him away only to shoot him a dirty look as soon as I did.

"It figures you'd set yourself up with the man of your dreams."

I gaped.  _What?_

"Oh come on, crystal ball. Don't look at me like that." He said, grinning.

I huffed and crossed my arms with a petulant pout on my lips, "Well, see if I ever keep a lookout for the woman of  _your_  dreams."

Smoothly, he tucked me under his arm and kissed me on the temple with a snicker hidden in my hair. His other hands came up and pinched my cheek, causing me to once again try and shove him away except  _this time_  he wasn't having it and held onto me.

"Aw, don't be like that! You're the only woman for me."

Finally wiggling free, I fled to the other side of the roof and glared at him. "Garrett. You're a dick."

He just grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes and stepped up onto the edge of the roof, looking down at the street and quickly searching for any sign of the little redhead from before. It looked all clear, but who knows if it really was. Holding up my hand towards Garrett in case he was going to start spewing bullshit again, I closed my eyes and concentrated.

_She hadn't expected Liam to react like this to the news, but she should have. Of course he'd be angry at someone encroaching on his territory, especially a male someone. Siobhan stood silently next her, waiting for the temper tantrum to end and unwaveringly patient as she always was. Maggie couldn't help but be in awe of her every time something like this happened, because Siobhan had always been so strong._

**_Flash._ **

_This was a surprise but not exactly unexpected. She stood silently behind Siobhan and Liam as they confronted the two strangers in front of them. One was a tiny girl with black hair cut almost boyishly, who seemed to be bouncing on her toes and constantly in motion. From what Maggie could she, if she wasn't bouncing she was vibrating with silent energy._

_The one next to her all but dwarfed the girl with his size, though he wasn't bulky by any means. Instead he stood with a casual stance that belayed how unaffected he was by not only the energetic girl next to him but by the threatening air Liam was giving off. In fact, if she looked closer she could tell he looked somewhat excited as if he was expecting a fight. His sandy brown hair was shoulder length and messy, as if it had never seen a brush in it's life and he had stubble covering his jaw giving him an almost wild appearance._

_She knew he was the one she scented._

**_Flash._ **

_It was surprising how quickly she'd warmed to them. She hadn't expected it, but they'd been honest from the start, which had made her like them almost immediately. Maggie watched with a small smile on her lips as the black haired girl danced around the tall, lithe man with a teasing laugh. She knew without a doubt, somehow, that these two were her future._

I opened my eyes, staring at the horizon to allow myself a few seconds of processing the three different visions I'd just seen. It had been a surprise but apparently the redhead would be our friend and not a threat like I'd thought. Admittedly, I had shied away without really looking closer at the random vision of her that'd popped up but when you suddenly have a vision of a redhead all over Garrett then really, what should anyone expect?  _Okay, but what's her name? And what about her coven? Shit, this sucks. Why can't my visions be more clear?_

I motioned Garrett over and when he was standing next to me, I leaned up against him. He hung his arm over my shoulder, and glanced down at the top of my head.

"Well?" He questioned.

I shrugged, careful not to dislodge his arm, "She's gonna be our friend."

Confused, he leaned away slightly, "Who is?"

Grinning, I looked up at him and wondered how I could be so lucky to have a coven mate like him. Instead of saying anything in reply to his question, I decided to ask him  _another_  important question.

"What should we call our coven?"

Baffled, he stared at me for a second. "We have a coven? Wait! Allie-cat, that's not what I asked."

I giggled and danced away from him along the edge of the roof and right as I reached the corner edge and prepared myself to leap down into the alley, I looked over my shoulder at him and winked.

"Her name is Maggie, and she's going to be my sister."

**Garrett**

He would be the first to admit that he was no saint; it could even be considered a god given fact that he wasn't. Before meeting his little companion, he'd been the type to feed, fuck, and fight whenever he damn well pleased regardless of the consequences unless it directly involved drawing too much attention. After meeting Alice, though, well things had quickly changed and he still wasn't sure if he liked all of the changes.

He had never played with his food, well, no he had but never in the way that Alice had. She was a special case; he'd known that from the first moment she sat across from him with the biggest, cheesiest grin she could manage plastered across her little fae-like face. He'd always known she was a bit touched in the head, and he kind of adored that about her even if it wasn't exactly healthy. All of those things all put together though, still didn't prepare him for how she'd played with Victoria. It's not like Garrett had never done something similar himself, but never so straightforward and never for so long.

Hell, he'd actually liked the redheaded human, at least a bit. Enough, at the very least, to consider  _changing_  her and bringing her on as another companion in their little makeshift coven. It had never even crossed his mind, not even once despite how he knew that Alice didn't like her that she'd decide to feed on her at the end of it all. If he really placed all the facts together, then not only had Alice befriended her on false convictions, but she'd also lured her into a sense of security and dependency that was a little unhealthy and then promptly made her bait to a  _trap_  then fed on her.

His little friend was certainly disturbed.

In the face of all of that, however, he couldn't find it in himself to dislike the little Pixie, not even a little. There was something about her that just drew him in, or in his little Fairy's words, 'Garrett, you adore me, like a moth to a flame!' Yea, that was certainly correct, and one day he'd be a fucking char on the ground from  _running head first_  into that flame.

Still, she had never led him wrong, not really. He grinned to himself at the thought of her playing all those damn jokes on those uppity, crusted  _monuments_  in Italy. It was dangerous as hell, but she had a flair for the dramatics and whenever she sent off those gifts or ridiculous letters he had always enjoyed watching her face go blank and then her suddenly burst into a fit of raucous laughter. He could only imagine the reactions, of course, but if they were anything that drew  _that_  out of his little Fairy, then they had to be one for the history books.

Heh, history books.

He shook his head and glanced over at the object of his thoughts with a little grin quirking the corner of his lips. It'd been days since she'd let slip that she was going to have a  _sister_  of all things, something that had honestly baffled the fuck out of him at the time, but she wouldn't give him any details. The only things he knew on the situation were that her name was Maggie, and she was going to be Alice's sister.

It rankled him, sometimes, that she never shared these things with him. He knew it wasn't a matter of trust, because fuck, he knew if Alice trusted anyone it was definitely him. He trusted her just as much, at least with things that didn't have to do with protecting him in a physical fight. He honestly had no fucking clue if she even knew how to defend  _herself_  much less be of any help to him. It wasn't like he hadn't thought of teaching her or anything, it just had never been much of priority and with her gift it never seemed like she'd need it.

Damn, that gift. He didn't know what to think about it. It was astounding really, and he didn't know of any other vampire out there with even an inkling of a gift similar to hers. Not that he knew many vampires, but the fact still stood. Her gift was something else, and sort of scared the shit out of him at times as much as it impressed him too.

It didn't matter either way, he guessed. Whether his little Allie-cat could fight or not, he knew he'd defend her to the end in every way that mattered. He'd learned, since his fuck up of a turning, that vampires felt deeply and in a multitude of ways in which humans couldn't even comprehend. It was official, after only minutes of knowing her that the bond he and Alice shared would never break.

Stretching his arms out above his head, he cracked his neck lightly and flopped down next to the little minx of his thoughts. Playfully, he threw his arm around her and tugged her close causing her to flail slightly and give out an adorable little squeak that had him snickering in short order.

"Garrett!" She whined, pushing at him.

He ignored her and tugged her closer still, resting his chin on top of her head and poking her in the side. She squirmed until, finally, with a huff she settled against him with an aggravated pinch to his bicep. He yelped.

"Damnable pixie! What was that for?"

"Oh shut up, you deserved it. I was in the middle of something!" She grumbled, incensed.

He rolled his eyes and drawled out a sarcastically, "How've those visions been treatin' ya? Any news?"

She leaned against him with a sigh, tilting her head back slightly against his chest and twining her fingers together in her hair. Amused, he watched as she subconsciously rocked back and forth in his lap. It was something she did often without realizing, and he always thought it was a damn good thing he didn't find her attractive at all. Pretty, yes, but she was too damn tiny and fae-like for physical attraction to stand.

"Argh! I just don't know when to meet her!" She complained, tugging at her short locks.

He rolled his eyes again and didn't bother saying anything. Alice would make her decision without him, as she always did, and it'd be one that he'd go along with whether he approved of it or not, as he always did. Huh, that was a pattern wasn't it? He suddenly wondered if this was what it meant to be considered whipped and if it even counted when the pair in question weren't even in a relationship of that type. It's something he'd recently heard humans complaining about, the males most often, and he'd found the idea hilarious at the time of overhearing it. Just goes to figure what he knows, doesn't it?

Still, as he tightened his grip on Allie-cat and allowed to her continue to mutter to herself under her breath within the safety of his arms, he couldn't help but be a bit excited. Whoever it was that she was so torn over meeting, he couldn't wait to see how it turned out. Anything involving Alice was always fun, in the end.


	7. Bean Sidhe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Improper Use of Irish Slang, Poor Attempt at a Planned Murder, Poor Representation of Irish Mythology
> 
> Just so's ya know. But there's only like... two irish slang words used, so does that even count?

At one glance, it would appear as a sideshow attraction in which a traveler would pass by with very little thought. It was the second glance that caused a double take, a moment of clarity in an otherwise riot of confusion, a glance in which a traveler or possibly even a visitor would wonder what had caused someone to set up such a gruesome scene on the road side path into Cork. Although, taking into account the time of year then perhaps it was not such a surprise that the scene was in place. In truth, it mattered very little what anyone thought at all considering those that did happen to pass by did not, in fact, do any passing at all.

 

Maggie had to wonder why she had even agreed to this ridiculous scheme that Alice had plucked out of her own mad head. She’d known the vampire for a little over a year at this point, and it had been a little less than that in which she’d taken the course of joining her coven. A Coven that Maggie was ashamed to say didn’t actually have an agreeable name. It was embarrassing to even think what Alice had decided to call the three of them, much less invite herself to tell others. No, Maggie wouldn’t even _think_ it.

 

It had surprised her that she’d left Liam and Siobhan only weeks after Alice introducing Garrett and herself to her previous coven. She’d never even entertained the thought that she would leave Siobhan, at least not in her own free will. She supposed it had something to do with Alice herself, and perhaps a little of Garrett as well. Maggie had seen him for the first time and had been amazed by him, it was only after he opened his big mouth that she found out what a langer he is.

 

Her attention was drawn away from her thoughts to the sound of a vehicle trudging it’s way slowly up the beaten road. Maggie straightened up from her casual regard against the broken wagon, glancing once over to make sure the cracked wagon wheel was in place and noting the carefully positioned deer spine laying along the wagon’s seat. She next smoothed down the frock and apron Alice had made her dress in and adjusted the bonnet on her red curls.

 

It was only seconds after she’d finished adjusting herself that the vehicle appeared around the bend, it’s momentum only slowing when Maggie stepped out onto the road with a faux worried look upon her delicate face. She could faintly hear the snickering of Garrett in the trees, quickly followed by the smack on Alice’s hand hitting him. She allowed herself a quick smile of amusement before smoothing out her features again into the worried appearance she needed just as the vehicle ground to a halt and a man wearing a wool cardigan and trousers.

 

Inside the vehicle were two women, one of older make with wrinkles dawning around her eyes and mouth set in a severe face, and the other younger, perhaps Maggie’s age when she’d died, with a kind set to her chin. Maggie felt a brief moment of chagrin for the ploy only for it to be erased in the next moment when the man approached with a swagger to his walk, appearing as a right gombeen.

 

He tipped his hat to Maggie, stopping only a few feet away, and although to another human he would appear brazenly concerned, Maggie could read the falsity in his face. Immediately she felt nearly sickened, and not at all guilty for what was about to happen. She allowed herself a small shuffle forward, a shamed hunch to her shoulders and ducked her head slightly as if in an effort to hide. The man’s whole form seemed to shift at the submissive behavior, his spine straightening and his shoulders rolling back as a grim line stretched across his lips.

 

Maggie wanted to eat him.

 

“Ye need help lass?”

 

She took a moment to center herself, her fingers pressing gently against the inside of each wrist, folded over each other as they were. It was silent only for a few seconds, not nearly long enough for the man to notice, but plenty of time for a vampire to think many thoughts at once. Maggie knew that this would not end well for him, and not at all for the severe looking woman but perhaps Alice would decide to let the girl go? No, it was better none of them were left to squeal.

 

Maggie allowed a tremulous smile to cross her pale pink lips, the edges of the smile quivering slightly, and dropped her eyes from his face to the ground. The man, in turn, took one more step forward and lifted his hand out to press gently on her left shoulder, the thumb rubbing back and forth. Maggie felt disgust at the action.

 

“Yes’ir. Much apologies, but maybe a hand with the wheel?”

 

His lips widened into a smile as he dipped his head in agreement, and Maggie took that moment to step away from him and towards the ragged old wagon they’d for this particular scheme. She had to admit that when Alice had come up with the idea, Maggie hadn’t been particularly pleased, she never was when it meant lying whether it was to humans or not. As it turns out, however, Maggie couldn’t turn away from the idea in the face of Alice’s… well, face. How that little imp – and little was subjective here as Maggie herself knew she was just as small – convinced her she will never know, but she had and she was here so she might as well carry on with the ploy.

 

Her head turned slightly so she could see the man from the corner of her eye, who it appears had briefly returned to the vehicle with the two women to let them know what was going on, then listened carefully to the rapidly whispered conversation between her two coven mates. She couldn’t help rolling her eyes after a few moments as the words carried to her, because of all things they could be doing -- such as readying themselves to do what Alice wanted them to do – instead they were arguing over how the expression on the head Garrett had taken from the nomad yesterday was too slackened.

 

Maggie’s attention was drawn back to the man when he approached her slouched, shivering form by the upturned, cracked wheel by the back of the wagon. He grinned at her unrepentantly, crouching down to take a look at the damage and for a moment the grin seemed to widen slightly. Maggie knew she had disliked him before, but once he looked up at her – taking his time, she noted – she decided rather abruptly that tearing his head off now seemed like a splendid idea. Her skin felt itchy as his eyes ran over her and she was glad now that her willpower had always been rather strong, but if Alice and Garrett didn’t get on with it soon then even she’d lose her patience. She is still a redhead, after all.

 

“It seems it’s a bit loose, ay? Ye hold tight, lass, and I’ll fix it up just right.”

 

 

_Loose?_ She had to wonder, the disbelief clear on her face, though thankfully he’d already turned back to the problem at hand. Maggie turned her head to the woods, irritation plain on her face, and whispered rapidly under her breath, “Alice! Hurry up!”

 

A light giggle was her only response, followed by a snort and masculine chuckle, which was quickly silenced by a ‘ _Smack!_ ’ then a yelp. Maggie rolled her eyes. She glanced at the man then the front of the wagon, where the deer spine hung over the side still covered in flakes of blood and gore and wondered how he was so very _blind_ , and she wasn’t talking about his eyes. He seemed to have no concientous thought to self-preservation, or perhaps it was that he did and it was overruled by his lust. She conceded that it was probably the latter and forgot the matter, shuffling slightly forward and lowered her voice into a apt mimicry of a timid mouse.

 

“Is it terrible? Can you fix it?”

 

He straightened up front his crouch, his height reaching far above hers and she had the brief thought that he may be as tall as Garrett. As he opened his mouth to answer her, a broken, haunting wail kept him silent as it rolled over them from the forest. It seemed to echo, a quality that sent a shiver up the spine and caused a deep-seated fear to settle in the belly. Maggie plastered on an innocent, oblivious look as the man turned white and his heartbeat skipped around frantically. His fingers clenched into fists and his shoulders trembled as he stared, horrified, at the forest behind her.

 

It was only when a scream erupted from the women in the vehicle that he lifted a shaking hand and pointed over Maggie’s shoulder, his voice stuttering out “B-b-bean Sidhe!”

 

Maggie stepped forward, “Sir? What is the matter?”

 

He stumbled away from her, his eyes unmoving from the forest and Maggie almost wished Alice would eat him already. She could hear the blood rushing through him, his heart in overdrive from the fear that she knew was eating him alive. As another wail, closer and much louder, echoed from behind her Maggie had to admit that Alice was rather clever even if humans were far too gullible. What good was Irish folklore, though, when none paid attention to the little details? Such as the fact that the Bean Sidhe only appeared to a select few families, and never to just any old traveler passing by; she supposed it didn’t help their belief any when Alice was standing at the edge of the forest, wailing for all the world to hear and looking particularly haunting.

 

“She’s here! Bean Sidhe!” His voice had risen with a hysterical note playing in the tone as he stumbled away again and turned to rush towards his vehicle where his presumed wife and daughter were still screeching like, well, like banshees. When she glanced over her shoulder, Maggie was exasperated to note that Alice was doing a great impression of a zombie and not so much a Bean Sidhe.

 

Indeed, Alice stood dressed in a ragged white dress that wrapped around her shoulders, breast, and hip with darkened, sooty lace. The skirt of the gown was torn nearly into separate strips of cloth, colored with flaked blood, dirt, and soot in an effort to make it look old and frayed. It covered her from ankle to wrist, parts of her shoulder left bare, and a neckline that showed a bit of Alice’s nonexistent cleavage – something Maggie knew that Alice was very sensitive about, with how much she pouted about it. Her posture was upright, left arm lifted and pointed towards the man and woman, her mouth was left slightly unhinged with lips painted a dark red and she had widened her eyes so they appeared slightly frenzied.

 

It was only seconds after the man had reached his family that the sound of hoof beats sounded through the air, something Maggie knew was not actually a horse but the sound of Garrett mimicking one through intense practice in which Alice pinched him every time he got it wrong. (She admitted to herself that it was highly amusing every time Garrett trailed into the realm of ridiculous just to see the serious look of affront on Alice’s fairy face.)

 

As soon as the man looked back with wide, frightened eyes at her coven mate, Alice moved with the speed natural to their kind, only slowing enough to appear blurred, halfway between the vehicle and the forest. The man’s trousers became wet near immediately at the action and the screams of the human women seemed to reach another decibel altogether. Maggie turned around to fully face the family and smiled at them sweetly, lifting a hand to wave at them even as guilt churned at her insides. Not, perhaps, guilt over the man’s looming death but more for the guilt that came from the knowledge that his wife and daughter wouldn’t live through this. She had not been with Alice long enough to not be bothered by the games she played, the games in which she’d helped her play, and perhaps it meant that Maggie by all rights should try to halt such things but… Alice would be Alice and Maggie could no more control her than she could control the storm.

 

(Garrett, she knew, had long since developed some sort of resistance to the guilt and reluctance that came with Alice and often suggested such games, having dropped all pretense of morality. She wondered at what cost that had come and if it would be the same for her.)

 

Garrett suddenly rounded the bend from the opposite direction the family had come from, halting the vehicle that had started forward in an effort to flee from Alice – the supposed Bean Sidhe – and the man’s daughter promptly fainted from fright. Maggie couldn’t blame her, as Garrett cut a rather terrifying figure, dressed as he was. If she were human, she certainly wouldn’t know what to do either besides faint from fear.

 

Garrett walked at a steady, human pace dressed head to toe in a black cloak with the collar turned up and no head to speak of. In truth, Maggie knew his head was hidden beneath it, but vampires were quite good at blending and hiding so it was no surprise that it simply appeared to the humans as if he were headless himself. In his right hand, held up at about mid chest, was a pale head with black eyes that rolled and turned in their sockets. His hand gripped at the hair on the head, the venom from the frayed necked dripping and pooling on the ground. It was the eyes, and the mouth, that cinched the look. The nomad’s mouth – for it was a Nomad, the same one that Garrett had ripped into ferociously yesterday after he had threatened Maggie – was gaping open, mindlessly trying to close which gave the appearance of speaking or perhaps madness for venom dripped from there as well and it was such a sight that to a human it would look as if the head were frothing at the mouth from rabidity.

 

It was the man that moved first, climbing from the vehicle and taking off at a run towards the fields that lay opposite of the forest. The woman – the wife – left behind screamed after him then slowly turned to look at Alice, Maggie, and Garrett. Her trembling was so violent it nearly overturned her from the seat of the car and the whites of her eyes were virtually causing her eyes to roll in their sockets. It took her only seconds to frantically try to escape the same way, trying to climb over to the drivers seat and then out the other side. Maggie saw Alice and Garrett exchange glances; Alice’s grin so wide and maddened that Maggie was almost certain that was _was_ actually unhinged. Garrett took off after the man, snatching him up by the back of the neck and pulling him backwards. The man’s legs flew up in front of him, the crack of his spine echoing loudly in the air and she was sure he would have screamed in that moment but Garrett gave him no time at all before breaking his neck and digging into his feast.

 

In the same moment, Alice had wrapped her fingers around the woman’s wrist and dragged her from the car, her lips pulled back in a parody of a grin. Maggie shivered at the demented look on her friend’s face and strolled towards the car, carefully and gently picking up the daughter and pulling her from it. She cradled the unconscious bundle in her arms, ignoring the sound of the woman’s terrified blubbering and Alice’s teeth sinking into the soft skin of her throat, to focus on the girl. She knelt, so that the girl lay across her lap, the rolled her head away from her so she did not have to see her face.

 

Briefly, she had the thought that it was a pity this girl had been here at the wrong time. Stroking her fingers down the strong pulse in her neck, she leaned down and let her teeth sink into the artery thundering beneath her skin. Blood rushed forward, filling her mouth and aching throat, and her eyes nearly rolled at the pleasure that shot through her from the taste. It was true that blood always tasted better with fear or pleasure, which was why vampires often hunted the way they did. Alice, though, was particularly good at inciting fear that bordered on hysteria; Maggie could appreciate such a thing, in that way, because it meant dinner was ambrosia and she wouldn’t be hungry again for a good few weeks.

 

She couldn’t help but mouth at the neck she was biting, her fingers drifting up from where she cradled the girls head to stroke along the base of her throat, trying to coax the artery to fill even more. It was only when the heartbeat beneath the girls breast stilled that she released her and gently set her down upon the ground. Alice had since finished her own meal, and with much less care for the woman she had chosen, let the body drop to the ground with a thump. Maggie stood then, and turned to look at Alice and her _ridiculous_ outfit only to see her grinning with a spot of blood on her chin.

 

“Hey! Alley-cat! You’ve got somethin’, right there.” Garrett hollered, grinning boyishly as he sauntered back towards them, hands set in the loops of his trousers.

 

Alice licked at her lips, then lifted a finger swiped the blood away, sucking it into her mouth that same instant and widening her eyes at Garrett with a little smirk at the corner of her lips. Maggie was suddenly _very_ glad that Garrett held no attraction to Alice – a rare thing for an unmated male vampire – because the way Alice looked in that moment was any male’s fantasy. Garrett goggled for a second, then uncomfortably looked away and Maggie couldn’t help but reassess the attraction part until Alice’s giggle filled the air. _Oh._ Well, yes that made more sense.

 

“Ugh, I hate when you do shit like that.” Garrett muttered under his breath, disgruntled. Maggie shook her head with a smile, exchanging an amused look with Alice who’d moved onto dragging the corpse of the woman into the trees.

 

“Gare.” Maggie stated, “It’s impossible to pull one over on her, you know that.”

 

Garrett huffed with childish petulance then conceded to her point and rolled his eyes, a grin stretching across his mouth and his eyes meeting hers. She knew the look in his eyes, one that had become familiar over the past months after every meal, and couldn’t help the pleasurable shiver that ran up her spine. Heat in her belly quickly followed and she lowered her eyes slowly, looking up at him from beneath her lashes and allowed a sultry smile to curls her lips. Before anything more could follow, however, Alice’s disgusted voice sounded out.

 

“No! No! Not again!” Alice whined, returned quickly and looked between the two with crossed arms and an intense pout on her face.

 

Garrett immediately tried to look innocent, “What?”

 

Alice shuddered, scrunching up her nose in disgust, and Maggie couldn’t help but think how adorable it looked.

 

“You know I have to _see_ that every time you _decide_ on it!” Her voice so full of offense and disgust that Maggie started laughing. It was true that every time a dalliance between her and Garrett occurred that Alice would throw a fit, because she was so tuned into the two of them that it seemed as if she _saw_ their dalliances in _great detail_. At first, it had embarrassed Maggie to no end, especially since Alice did not let on to the vision until the fifth time it had happened when she could no longer hold onto the silence of it. If Maggie could blush, her face would have been as red as her hair at the outburst Alice had had, especially considering her outburst was very…. graphic.

 

Garrett, on the other hand, found the whole thing hilarious and would constantly induce visions just to see the look on Alice’s face and hear her reactions. What would follow would be hours of Alice chasing him around trying desperately to make him stop deciding on all the things he’d to do Maggie when they found time alone together. Maggie had long since decided that she’d stay out of it, and that the day Garrett found a mate, would be the day that Alice would _really_ regret being so attuned to him. Maggie had considered the idea that it might be distressing to see Garrett attached so permanently, but it was not like she had claim on him and it really was only a companionship of sorts, one that was far more normal between vampires than the one Garrett and Alice had.

 

As she watched Garrett waggle his eyebrows obscenely and the offended and highly disgusted look cross over Alice’s glazed eyes, she couldn’t decide whether she was _glad_ for this new coven or _exasperated_. In the end, she decided, watching Alice launch herself at Garrett even as he fled with a boisterous laugh, she loved them and would not trade either of them for the world.

 

**Alice**

_It had been some time since the mysterious Pixie had irritated his Masters, and Demetri had to admit to himself that he somewhat missed the reactions that the crazy vampire brought out in the Masters. It had been the most fun he’d had in some time, not considering the constant teasing he and Felix employed when it came to the Devil Twins. Demetri was no masochist, but it was still a thrill to irritate Jane then try to escape before she loosed her demonic ability on him. Felix was less conscious of the pain that came from it and Demetri could only reluctantly admit, if only to himself, that his friend was somewhat of an idiot. It wasn’t like every vampire in the world was intelligent, after all._

_So it was that when he was called before the Masters that day, only a few weeks after he had returned from another fruitless search for this ‘Pixie’ that irritated the Masters , that he walked into the cavernous throne room to the sight of Aro ranting and raving and Caius rubbing the bridge of his nose. This… this stopped Demetri short and he stood there for a few seconds gaping, unable to help himself, because the roles had suddenly reversed. It was quite normal to see Caius ranting and raving like a madman, but it was extremely rare, almost unheard of, for Caius to be the calm one in situations like these._

_Demetri grimaced then steeled himself and walked toward his Masters, halting a few feet away from the steps of the Thrones. Master Marcus was seated to the far right, head canted to the left and eyes staring blankly at the wall, this was unsurprising to Demetri. Master Caius, seated to the far left, was watching Master Aro with a frustrated impatience bordering on fury, another thing that was unsurprising to Demetri. However, Master Aro was pacing in front of the thrones, his hands moving at a rapid pace through the air as his seething words cut into the otherwise silence of the room. Demetri quietly waited, listening to the words of censure escaping his Master’s lips, and hoped that he wouldn’t have to go out on another senseless search. He had **just** gotten back._

_Master Aro stopped then and faced Demetri head on, his face twisted in rage, and Demetri couldn’t help the foreboding shiver that crawled up his spine._

_“Demetri!” He snapped, “Why have you not found this vampire!?”_

_Demetri bowed his head, “Master, I apologize. This ‘Pixie’ is very talented and I cannot pick up any trace of her. My tracking ability has no mind to latch onto.”_

_Master Aro snarled, his eyes cutting to the corner where Demetri knew Jane was and he tensed in preparation. When nothing happened, he chanced a look up to see Aro’s hand on Caius’s wrist. Master Caius was staring at Demetri with an impassive look on his face that Demetri had **never** seen before. It startled him enough that he was unaware of Master Aro moving towards him until his hand landed on Demetri’s neck. He tensed, waiting for Master Aro’s decision and trying desperately not to think anything incriminating, not that it would really matter._

_Master Aro removed his hand and backed away, a pleasant smile on his face and clapped his hands together. “Ah! You are quite right Demetri!”_

_Demetri adopted a puzzled look, “Master?”_

_Master Aro didn’t answer however and waved him off, moving back over to his throne silently. Demetri knew a dismissal when he saw one and turned to leave. He was stopped as soon as he reached the door by Master Aro’s voice._

_“Jane.”_

_And Demetri felt pain._

A frown crossed my face as my brow furrowed in thought, wondering what had possessed me to tune into Demetri of the Volturi of all people. I kept getting visions of him, and they had gotten increasingly more frequent over the past couple of months, which baffled me to no end because I didn’t know Demetri and I never _planned_ to know him. The visions certainly hadn’t replaced the ones I have had of Jasper, but that didn’t mean they weren’t as numerous. It was strange because if anything I would have thought that I’d have more visions of Garrett than of a vampire I had never met.

 

It just goes to figure that I still hadn’t trained my gift well enough, especially since I was getting such detailed visions of Jasper and Demetri instead of vampires I’d come into contact with. I grimaced, rubbing my hand over my pixie cut hair and leaning forward to rest my head against the tops of my knees. Ever since Maggie had joined us, I’d been able to get a few minutes, or hours as the case may be, alone in order to search through the future. It’s not like I minded those two around; in fact, I couldn’t imagine my life without them at this point. That didn’t mean I didn’t relish the chance to be alone. At the moment, those two were off sexing each other up, as it were.

 

I sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree I was seated beneath, tilting my head back and closing my eyes at the peace of the moment. Back to the matter of Demetri, something that I was wary of thinking about but _needed_ to think about, this latest vision was unsurprising in the list of visions I’d had of him. How we were connected was a mystery, but connected we were and it was up to me to figure out _how_ and what affect he would have on my life from here on out. It pained me to admit it, but I found myself dearly hoping that _he_ wasn’t my mate.

 

I wanted Jasper, and I am almost certain that Jasper is my mate. The visions I keep having about Demetri are concerning, however, and I can’t keep the doubts from surfacing. It didn’t make _sense_. I didn’t like it when things didn’t make sense, well, no that’s not quite true now is it? I quite liked it when _I_ made no sense, but that was because it’s hilarious when I do it.

 

_Is this what it’s like for others when I do something crazy?_ I wondered, slightly amused but mostly frustrated with the thought. _Shit. I really am as irritating as Before Alice._ I huffed at the implication, crossed my arms and pouting. I’d found myself pouting a lot lately.

 

Tapping my toes against the ground, I opened my eyes and stared at the canopy above me. _So maybe Demetri isn’t connected to **me**? Maybe he is connected to someone that **I** am connected to? _ That… actually made a lot of sense. Pleased that I’d figured it out, or at least had some idea, I closed my eyes again and smiled, relaxing against the tree.

 

It’s been weeks since the little ploy I’d come up with and we’d moved on from Cork, Ireland to somewhere in Spain. I wasn’t exactly sure where we were, just that people spoke Spanish and we had traveled south across the sea. That had to mean Spain, but considering I’d let Garrett pick the direction, well, who knows where we will end up eventually. I was really tempted to pay a visit to Italy, but I didn’t have the ability to sneak into Volterra without detection and as much as I really wanted to leave garlic scented love notes for Caius around their ‘palace’ there was no way I was going to put Garrett and Maggie in that much danger.

 

_Maybe if I find a vampire with the ability to go invisible? But that still leaves scent…._ Frowning at the thought, I opened my eyes to once more glance up at the canopy, mostly to see the position of the sun. As a vampire, I’d lost all sense of time, things just moved _differently_ and I had no watch to speak of so the sun was mostly how I kept track. As it was, from what I saw through the leaves it had been at least two hours since my companions had left. I chewed on my lower lip in thought, considering searching them out then quickly decided against it seconds later. No way did I want to see _that_.

 

I didn’t have a moment to contemplate my next thought, as the vision hit me hard and fast, as visions of him usually did. I found myself drowning.

 

_He turned, facing the newest batch of newborns that had just recently reached the one year mark. Arms crossed over his chest, shoulders back, and his chin lifted he stared at them with an intensity that was hard to meet. They never did meet his eyes, though. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his position of power over them or the fact that he had the ability to send them to their knees with just a little push of his power. He shifted his weight slightly, studying the military stance that the thirteen newborns presented. There were four less this year than the last, it would make it easier, at the very least._

_A voice clearing from beside him brought him from his brief overview and he looked over to see silver blond male standing next to him give him a pointed look. He sighed, nodding in acquiesce, and stepped back from the group of newborns._

_“Make sure you pick out the strongest first.” He said quietly._

_The blond shot him a rakish grin and a wink, “Of course Major.”_

_He didn’t reply, he had no need to, and moved towards the culling barn at a rapid pace. They wouldn’t know why they were called one at a time to him, possibly thinking they were rising in the ranks or possibly thinking they had earned some sort of praise. He scoffed at the though, slowing to a walk and stepping inside the darkened, dusty barn. There was no room for praise in Maria’s army._

_He didn’t bother looking around. He knew this barn like the back of his heavily scarred hands, the blood splatters and the lingering scent of venom stinging his nose. Only moments later did the process start with the first newborn brought to him. He fell into the routine quickly, saying nothing and feeling only the brief moments of confusion, fear, and anger of the newborns as he disposed of them. Peter was efficient, but with every newborn brought in he was able to grasp onto the emotions of his second rising more and more in fear and desperation._

_He didn’t know what to think about that. Peter had been with him through many long years, since the late 1800s at the least, though he had long since lost track of time. Never had he felt this from him, this mass of emotion that boiled under the surface and left his senses reeling. It was down to the last two newborns to be culled when Peter finally said something._

_“Major…” He started, hesitant and growing rapidly anxious as he continued, “I think the girl is a good fit to keep on. She is a good fighter… dedicated…”_

_“No.” He said._

_Peter’s emotions spiked and his head snapped to look at him. That had not been the usually cocktail of fear and desperation, instead that had been a jolt of rage and fierce protectiveness. He hesitated, on the verge of questioning his second, then remembered Maria’s orders and the life that every vampire led. His face shuttered, eyes sharpening, and the corner of his lips lifting in a small snarl._

_“Peter.” He snapped, “Bring the girl next.”_

_His second wanted to disobey over a newborn so he would teach him why that wasn’t wise, why they had to do as they were told, and what the consequences were for defying their orders. He was in command of the camp under Maria and it seems as if his fondness for his second had interfered with his duty. He brought his power to bear when Peter once again hesitated, enveloping him in a mixture of obedience and desire to please._

_Peter caved, inclining his head with a murmur of ascent even as his entire body trembled, fighting the falsity of the emotions forced upon him. His gift had always been strong and extremely useful in every situation he was brought into, but the one weakness that it had was that once out of his range, the emotions forced upon a victim faded and they had their own brought to the fore. He didn’t take this into consideration, unaware of the weakness as it were, and waited as his second left the room to retrieve the newborn he so wanted to protect._

_It was only when his second didn’t return in the next few minutes that he realized his mistake and hurried to where the newborn group that had diminished rapidly over the past hour lay in wait. There was only one newborn left, a young boy no older than 12 when he’d been changed, and no sign of the small blonde or his second. The boy looked to him in curiosity and a small bit of hope that did not even have a chance to change into fear as he rushed over and with a harsh tear, ripped his head from his body._

_He dropped the head and turned from the leftovers to stare off into the direction he could sense the fear, rage, protectiveness, and the familiar taste of Peter’s emotions that were quickly disappearing with every mile placed between them. He wasn’t sure for how long he stood, exactly, but it was much longer than the perceived amount of time it took for him to no longer sense Peter._

_It was then that he felt the sudden despair that washed over him, crawling into every crevice of his being. He bowed his head, shoulders slumping, and dare not breath in the foul air left behind from the copious amount of venom he’d spilled this night. No, he couldn’t think of what he’d done tonight…. He needed to go after his second before Maria sent out soldiers. No._

_A curl of his lip and a fierce surge of possession rose in him then. The rumble of his growl nearly vibrated his chest and shoulders as he released it, and he lifted his head with a cold determination shining in his black eyes. Peter was his and Maria would never find him, not if he had any say in it._

_He straightened and turned back towards the direction the main camp was in, knowing that in **this** he would do something for himself. Was he a vampire with power or wasn’t he? _

_A smirk curled his lips, blonde curls falling in his eyes as he dipped his chin slightly, and he chuckled darkly._

_“Darlin’, you have no idea who you’ve pissed off.”_

_It was time he took a little control back._

This… confused me. Mostly because as far as I remember from my previous life, Charlotte had not been turned until the late 1930’s. However, from what I was seeing, that had definitely been Peter and Charlotte fleeing and I was almost positive it was going to happen in the next few months if not year. I had planned on meeting Jasper before Peter ever met Charlotte, mostly because it was just plain exhausting wanting him but not _having_ him. Not to mention that Jasper is so screwed up in the head that it’s painful to watch, and especially since he is getting worse with time.

 

I scowled. I was going to have my damn hands full with him. It… suddenly it hit me. Once I met up with Jasper I would have to say goodbye to Garrett and Maggie, I would have absolutely no choice in the matter. My face dropped and I felt despair at the thought of giving up my brother and sister, but I knew I would have to. Jasper would slaughter them both at this point in his life, he was too screwed up _not_ to. I knew, suddenly, without a shade of doubt that Jasper _is_ my **mate** and I am his. He would never hurt me.

 

It was terrifying.

 

“Fuck me.” I whispered, wide eyed.

 

Subconsciously, I had known this, but to actually _realize_ it was another matter entirely. I couldn’t handle myself, so how the _bleeding fuck_ was I going to handle Jasper? Obviously, something in Jasper had changed with the loss of Peter, something that had caused him to suddenly turn all badass on me. I swallowed, feeling venom welling in my throat, and took a trembling breathe of air through my sudden nerves.

 

“Fuck.” I breathed.

 

On the other hand, at least I didn’t have to worry about meeting him next year as had previously happened. No, I wouldn’t be meeting Jasper for years yet. In one way, this saddened me; on the other I felt immense relief. Jasper was as crazy as a bag full of cats and it was going to take a hell of a lot more than _wanting_ him to make me _meet_ him at this point. _Courage. I need some fucking courage._ I thought, grimacing.

 

“Fuck.” I breathed out again.

 

Well, third times the charm and all that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have problems with past & present tense. I know.


	8. In Which Alice Goes Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm so, so, so sorry for the long Hiatus!! I am not completely back now, and updates are going to be slow going for a little while - probably somewhere between once to twice a month at most until summer time. My days are extremely busy and at the end of it, I don't have enough brain LEFT to write something.
> 
> Anyways, please enjoy this short little chapter. It's the beginning of a new path for the Alice + Garrett + Maggie trio. Next chapter, will hopefully be here near the end of January (or middle of...). I still have big plans! I'm trying to take my time more on writing chapters and double, then triple checking my grammar etc...
> 
> It's short, but it's sweet, and I hope you like it!

This was so exciting. I couldn’t help but tug on Garrett’s hand, my eyes searching frantically over the street laid out in front of us. Garrett chuckled under his breath, ignoring the pulls of his hand in mine and just watched me indulgently; or what I imagined was indulgently, I mean who knows? He could just have indigestion. That one hiker yesterday was a little… _ripe_. I giggled under my breath, bouncing on my toes and tugging on his hand again.

 

“Garrett!” I whispered eagerly. “Garrett! This is so exciting! How are you not excited?!”

 

I didn’t look back, but I can only imagine the hard roll of his eyes and it was on the tip of my tongue to say something about his face getting stuck like that. Instead, I all but squealed when I spotted _him_. I bit my lip and tugged harder, but this time Garrett tugged back until I was caught in his arms. I leaned my head back and looked up at him with a pout.

 

“Gaarreeeeettttt….” I whined, drawing his name out _just so_.

 

This time I did see his eyes roll, but the smile on his lips sort of ruined it for him. He looked down at me with this amused patience to his red eyes, and that brought me up short. I promptly deflated, pouting for real this time as I realized my _slight_ miscalculation.

 

“Red eyes.” I said.

 

“Yes, ‘bit. We have red eyes.” He responded, amused still.

 

“No, you don’t get it.” I said with a frown. “ _Red eyes_. This won’t work.”

 

He squeezed me slightly and shook his head with a fondness I’ve gotten used to seeing in the past nine years. _Wow, has it really been that long?_ I wondered in another part of my mind that wasn’t currently _worrying_. It was part of that awesome package that comes with sparkly brain syndrome; or, you know, vampirism. I snickered internally.

 

“You have the power to see the future Alley Cat.” He stated.

 

I stared up at him from where my head was resting against his chest. He waited, staring back. It took me a few seconds but then it dawned on me what he was getting at and I laughed sheepishly. _Right. Wow, what is with me today? Huh. Nerves. Gotta be the nerves._ I thought, feeling very stupid.

 

Clearing my throat, I looked back at the street in front of us and frowned when I didn’t see him anymore. He had disappeared somewhere in the few moments I’d been looking at Garrett. It just figured, he always ruined my exciting moments for me. He’d even ruined meeting Maggie, she’d been waaaaay too interested in Garrett when she should have been psyched to meet me instead. _Stupid Picklehead._

 

“He went into the carpenter’s.” Garrett said.

 

I blinked but nodded; unsurprised he’d figured out where my mind had galloped off to in those few seconds. I bit my lip again, tilting my head slightly as I pondered the _red_ dilemma. Slowly, I started to nod my head again but this time in line with my own thoughts.

 

“Okay!” I chirped suddenly. “This can work! I know what to do.”

 

“Feel free to clue me in any second now.” He replied.

 

I ignored him for the moment and let the visions take me over, my eyes glazing over as I forgot the physical sights in front of me and focused on the sights rapidly filling my brain from the future. There were numerous possibilities but…. I blinked the glaze away and bounced on my toes again, Garrett’s arms barely keeping hold of me in my renewed excitement.

 

“So exciting!” I chirped again, beaming.

 

He chuckled and I felt the vibration all the way through my torso. Shivering, I wiggled free and danced ahead a few steps only to spin on my heel and shake my finger in his face with a teasing grin. Garrett stared back at me, a bemused expression crossing his face. I cackled. Garrett faltered.

 

“Uh. Don’t ever do that again.” He grimaced. “That was _creepy_ Alley Cat.”

 

I cackled again, throwing my head back this time and curling my fingers under my chin dramatically. He shivered and looked away, muttering about following Mags to Rochester. I gasped and sprung at him, gripping his arms and shaking him back and forth rapidly.

 

“You can’t! You’ll mess it all up!” I cried.

 

“Oh, come one!” He all but whined. “It can’t have that much of an affect if I join Mags upstate?”

 

I shook my head rapidly back and forth in a no, “It does though! She’s gotta do it by herself Limbo Brain!”

 

He blinked, staring.

 

I blinked back, waiting.

 

He frowned, “That one was new.”

 

I beamed. “Isn’t it grand?”

 

Rolling his eyes, he shoved my hands away and crossed his arms, eyeballing me thoughtfully. With a rough, almost put upon, sigh he shoved his face into his left hand and groaned. I giggled because _Garrett_ had literally just _face palmed_.

 

“Fine. I won’t follow Mags, but you _owe me_ Alley Cat!” He snapped, with no real heat behind the words.

 

I played with the ends of my _very_ short hair and smiled back at him with full on innocence. He didn’t buy it, of course, Garrett never did but it was still good practice. One day, _oooone day_ , he would. _That lady must’ve been high or drunk or something…Sure tasted good though._ I suddenly thought with a full burst of amusement. I was a lot more jittery than normal, but maybe it really _was_ because I’m so excited?

 

Speaking of, I quickly turned back just in time to see _Emmett McCarty_ exit the Carpenter’s with a pretty little lady on his arm. He was just as huge in real life as I’d imagined, with adorable dimples on his grinning cheeks. The little lady on his arm had those same dimples and those same curls and I had the sudden urge to just go over and hug them both. I didn’t, of course, because that’d be _weird_ right?

 

I cleared my throat and looked over my shoulder at Garrett with a devious glint in my eye. Immediately, he grew wary and shifted uncertainly, his hands rising up as if to ward me off.

 

“Uh… Nice Alley Cat.” He said nervously, backing away a few steps.

 

I giggled under my breath and rushed out with a near breathless, “It’s _Emmett!_ ”

 

It _was_ Emmett, or at least a sixteen-year-old human version of Emmett. Either way, this was the entire reason I’d pushed us to come back to the states these last few years. Sure, we had seen some amazing things, done a lot of _crazy_ things, and met even crazier vamps but there comes a time in every vampire’s life where… Well, no. I just wanted to come back as soon as I saw a vision of a runaway newborn from Jasper’s army racing through Tennessee. That had captured my attention immediately and despite the newborns bloody end by Jasper’s hand that hadn’t been what I’d been so focused on.

 

Gatlinburg, TN 23 Miles

 

That sign had been our undoing, so to speak, because what bigger hint than that could a clairvoyant ask for? It’s why Garrett and I are on this street watching Emmett and what I assume is his sister walking away from us down the sidewalk. It may also be why Maggie is currently in Rochester, New York befriending everyone’s favorite Barbie blonde. I applaud Maggie for that, and it’s the very reason she is up there instead of me, because Rosalie would certainly not last long if I had to put up with her attitude. I shudder slightly in remembrance of what the fifteen-year-old blonde is currently like. Poor Emmett and the eternity he will have with _that_ on his arm.

 

Reaching back, I grasped Garrett’s arm and tugged again. “Garrett!” I whispered loudly, “Hurry! They’re getting away!”

 

He groaned but allowed me to start pulling him down the street, “Alley-Cat, you realize you aren’t being _quiet_ right?” In fact, everyone was staring after my ‘whisper’ to Garrett seconds earlier but me being, well, me, I ignored it like a pro. I glanced over my shoulder briefly and scoffed at him, before zeroing in on the McCarty’s that were turning the corner at the end of the street. My eyes widened and I yelped slightly in dismay, picking up my pace and dragging Garrett along for the ride.

 

Finally fed up with me, he jerked his arm away from me with a huff and I stopped long enough to give him a side eyed glare with a pout. He sneered back at me. My pout deepened. Scowling, he threw his arms up in the air and stalked ahead of me. I took a moment to stare at his back in amusement before pumping my fist into the air with a ‘Yes!’ of victory.

 

“I heard that you little demon!” He cried over his shoulder.

 

I stuck my tongue out at his back.

 

“Hurry up!” He mocked.

 

I gaped for a second at his _audacity_ before giggling again under my breath because _Garrett is learning_ and hurrying after him. I sidled up to him and tucked my arm in his just as we turned the same corner that Emmett had moments before. I spotted them in less than a second and bit my lip to stop from saying anything to give away my excitement. Garrett most likely knew though, if the bouncing up and down while holding his arm didn’t give it away.

 

He leaned down slightly to whisper in my ear a quiet, “So what’s the plan ‘bit?”

 

I shot him a tiny smirk followed up by a saucy wink and slipped from his grasp to saunter passed two men and a woman right up to Emmett and his sister. They were just about to enter what appeared to be a candy store that displayed ‘Fireside Candies’ with the image of a fireplace on it’s sign hanging above the door. It looked like a quaint little place with a chimney, done in old frayed wooden siding that had stones wrapping around the side of the building through the grass.   


Emmett and his sister looked startled when I appeared in front of them all of the sudden. I gave a bright smile and looked immediately to his sister’s face, my eyes flickering up to her cute little hat that had a wide brim and stitching of a flower of some sort on the side of it.

 

“Hello!” I said cheerfully.

 

She returned the smile without reserve, her lips turning up at the corners and giving me a full force view of her adorable dimples. _Just like Emmett!_ I thought excitedly. I bit my lip to still my words, mostly so I didn’t run her off in the next three seconds. Emmett looked at me with curious amusement, a slight grin playing at the corners of his mouth and his big brown eyes staring wide eyed into my face. He had dimples too, even without the smile; it was everything I expected and more.

 

 

“Hello Ma’am. May we help you?” Emmett asked, his voice playing at the edge of amused.

 

“Well I sure hope so!” I exclaimed.

 

I glanced again at his sister’s hat and then looked imploringly into her own baby blues. She seemed to understand immediately and released a quiet laugh from behind a gloved hand.

 

“It’s from Candice and Wells’, it isn’t new I’m afraid. The Depression is hitting us all.” She said, gesturing to the hat upon her head. I beamed at her, without teeth, and stepped closer. I couldn’t remember if people actually shook hands yet or not in the 30’s but I’ve been shaking everyone’s hand since I landed in this new body so I didn’t bother holding back as I stuck my hand out for hers. She did take it, though with a puzzled look, and held it firmly with a smile on her face that continued to grow smaller the longer the silence continued.

 

Emmett started to look nervous, even though he towered over me by… a lot, and glanced from his sister to me and back again rapidly; that’s when Garrett showed up. I was about to say something about the Depression, seeing as how I’d forgotten it was a thing right now, when he tossed his arm over my shoulder and smirked at Emmett like it was a challenge, I dropped his sister’s hand at once.

 

“Garrett.” I pouted.

 

“Sorry folks, was this little devil bothering you? She can be a bit much.” He said to Emmett and his sister, ignoring me completely.

 

Emmett laughed a belly laugh that seemed to shake his whole body and I forgot what Garrett had done as I watched him with complete fascination. _This was Emmett!_ My thoughts screamed at me. _Big Bear Emmett! Wow, he really does look like a Bear doesn’t he? I wonder who would win in a fair fight…. Is it even a fair fight if he’s human?_ I mused this silently to myself, completely zoning out as Garrett introduced us to Emmett and his sister.

 

Apparently her name is Marie and she is older than Emmett by one year, and already engaged to be married to a man name Jonathan Grisham. I nearly snickered at the name, because wasn’t that an author of some sort back when I was different?

 

“…and sometimes she just gets like this. The Doctor’s say nothing can be done about it.” Garrett was saying. I blinked from my reverie and focused on what he had just said, then did an about face and glared up at him with crossed arms.

 

“Excuse me, Dumbo say what?!” I snap, a mutinous scowl on my face.

 

He grinned down at me, winking over my head at Emmett, and continuing with “Isn’t she adorable?”

 

I stomped on his toe.

 

As Garrett hopped around cursing under his breath, I turned to Marie and threaded our arms together with a bright smile. She went a long with me in good humor, sending her brother a nervous ‘What-The-Fuck-Is-This-Crazy-Bitch-Doing’ smile, and patting my hand on her arm gently. I amused myself with visions of tossing Garrett into the nearest storefront as I steered Marie into Fireside Candies that we had been standing in front of for the past few minutes. Emmett stayed behind with Garrett, most likely in attempt at sympathy. I wished him luck.

 

“So, Marie, may I call you Marie?” I questioned brightly.

 

She smiled at me, “You may, but only if I may return the favor.”

 

“Of course you can call me Alice!” I beamed up at her as we maneuvered towards the back of the story where a whole wall of candies was stashed, then continued a little more quietly. “What is it that finds you in a candy shop in these troubled times?”

 

At that, her smile withered quickly but she seemed to gather herself in the next instance, and lifting her free hand to tuck a dark strand of hair back under her cute hat, she sighed heavily and smiled again. Her quick glance up at the candies then back towards me showed a slight hesitation in explaining her situation, but I smiled a closed mouthed smile at her and tilted my head… just so… to appear innocent and adorable the way I knew I’d appear in her eyes. She caved quickly.

 

“Well, our little sister, Annabelle… She’s sick, you see.” She told me softly, a wistful smile curling her lips upwards. “She adores these candies and Mamma thought… well, Emmett and Daddy are so busy helping the building efforts and the farming on the side…” She trailed off in her explanation, her eyes suddenly seeming far away in another memory.

 

I studied her silently, wordlessly, and felt a little bit of empathy for her situation. It curdled in my stomach like soured milk and I frowned at the feeling. _Well this is weird._ I mused at the odd feeling, considering I’d never felt this way for a human before. _Maybe because it’s Emmett’s family? I do like Emmy._ Perhaps it was that, or maybe it was that I was growing more human the longer I wasn’t? I shook my head imperceptibly, a curl of disgust on my lip. Nah, it was just that hunter I’d had on the way over, I had thought his blood was a little… _off_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
